A man armed with a hatchet has killed four children and wounded at least five others at a nursery in Brazil, authorities have said.
The state’s firefighter corps said the assailant jumped over one of the centre’s walls to get inside.
Those killed were aged between five and seven.
The man later turned himself in at a police station and did not appear to have any connection with the school.
Authorities are searching for a motive, a police detective told television reporters in Blumenau.
Images broadcast from the scene showed weeping parents outside the private daycare centre, called Cantinho do Bom Pastor.
Amid rumours on social media of other potential attacks, Blumenau’s mayor, Mario Hildebrandt, said the city has suspended classes and will declare a 30-day mourning period.
Mr Hildebrandt said five wounded children were taken to hospitals, one of whome was in serious condition.
School attacks in Brazil have increased in frequency in recent years, and last week, a student in Sao Paulo fatally stabbed a teacher and wounded several others.
Brazil has previously seen at least one attack on a daycare centre, which also took place in the state of Santa Catarina. The incident in 2021 saw the attacker use a dagger to kill three young children and two adults.
From 2000 to 2022, there have been 16 attacks or violent episodes in schools in Brazil, four of which took place in the second half of last year, according to a report from researchers led by Daniel Cara, an education professor at the University of Sao Paulo.
The researchers prepared the report for Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his government.
“There is no greater pain than that of a family who loses its children or grandchildren, even more so in an act of violence against innocent and defenceless kids,” the president wrote Wednesday on Twitter.
“My thoughts and prayers are the families of victims and the community of Blumenau in the face of the monstrosity of what occurred.”
