Four children killed, 5 more hurt in axe attack at a day-care centre in southern Brazil

Rio De Janeiro: Four children were killed and five more injured when a 25-year-old man armed with a small axe attacked a day-care centre in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina on Wednesday, local police and a hospital said.

According to the local police, the man responsible for the attack in the city of Blumenau has been arrested. Local security chief, Marcio Alberto Filippi, said the attacker gained entry to the private school by scaling its walls.

The assailant turned himself in at a police station and did not appear to have any connection with the day-care centre, which offers nursery services, preschool education and after-school activities.

The Santo Antonio Hospital in Blumenau said that in addition to the four children killed, five others aged between three to five are under its medical care.

Wednesday’s attack took place in the playground of the day-care centre, according to the local affiliate of television network Globo. NSC, the affiliate, showed a photo of the suspect with a closely shaved head. Police are yet to confirm his identity.

The attack, dubbed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as a “monstrosity,” happened nearly a week after a 13-year-old student stabbed a teacher to death and wounded five others in a Sao Paulo school.

“A tragedy like this is unacceptable, an absurd act of hate and cowardice…an act of violence against innocent and defenceless children,” Lula said in a Twitter post.

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