Axe-wielding Man Rampages at Brazilian Daycare: Four Dead, Five Wounded

Illustration of police lines. (Wikimedia Commons/Tony Webster)

JAKARTA - A man armed with a small ax climbed over the wall of a daycare in southern Brazil, killing four children and wounding five others on Wednesday, police said.

Police said three boys, two aged 4 and one aged 5, and a 7-year-old girl died, reported by Reuters, April 6.

Meanwhile, four of the injured children aged between 3 and 5 years are being treated at the hospital and are reported to be in stable condition. While the fifth child suffered minor injuries, police said.

Worried that their children may be among the victims, the parents who broke up rushed to a daycare in Blumenau City, Santa Catarina state, as police and firefighters investigated the situation.

"Thankfully my daughter was not among the victims," ​​one father told reporters.

"He's fine physically, but emotionally devastated. How am I going to get this out of his head?" he added.

Separately, security chief Marcio Alberto Filippi said the 25-year-old man turned himself in to police after going berserk.

The perpetrator had a history of violence and drugs, and had stabbed his stepfather in March 2021, police said.

The attack comes nearly a week after a 13-year-old student stabbed a teacher to death and injured five others at a school in Sao Paulo.

Responding to the events that occurred, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called the attack an "abomination".

"A tragedy like this is unacceptable, an act of senseless hatred and cowardice... an act of violence against innocent and defenseless children," President Lula said in a Twitter post.