A man who invaded a daycare center with a hatchet killed four children and injured at least three others Wednesday in southern Brazil, authorities said.
Santa Catarina state's Gov. Jorginho Mello confirmed the killings in the city of Blumenau on his Twitter account, and wrote that the killer has been arrested. The state’s firefighters corps confirmed the man attacked with a hatchet and that three children were taken to the hospital.
Images broadcast on television showed weeping parents outside the private daycare center, named Cantinho do Bom Pastor. Local media reported the attacker scaled a wall to enter the daycare center wielding a hatchet.
Neither the state’s military police nor its security secretariat immediately responded to Associated Press requests for more information.
School attacks in Brazil had been uncommon, but have begun happening with greater frequency in recent years. Last week, a student in Sao Paulo stabbed a teacher, killing her, and also wounded several others in Sao Paulo.
“May God comfort the hearts of all families in this moment of deep pain,” Gov. Mello wrote on Twitter.
Blumenau, a city of 366,000 people, is famous for its annual Oktoberfest festival.