Brazil: 13 children held hostage in kindergarten freed by police, hostage-taker shot dead
An armed man with a knife held 13 children aged 4 to 5 hostage for nearly three hours in a school in Curitiba. Special forces intervened and shot the suspect.
Hostage-taking in kindergarten in Brazil: suspect shot dead, 13 children freed
According to parismatch.be, a man armed with a knife entered a municipal early childhood education centre in the São Braz neighbourhood in Curitiba by bicycle, jumping over the fence. He then locked himself in a room at the establishment with 13 children aged 4 to 5, holding them hostage for nearly three hours.
Special units of the Military Police of the State of Paraná were deployed on the scene and engaged in negotiations with the abductor. "Throughout the negotiation, he remained with all the children around him and one of them on his lap," stated Colonel Alexandre Lopes Dias, commander of special forces.
The man was also threatening to set fire to the building, according to authorities. The decision to intervene was taken when the situation deteriorated. "When we noted that the children were increasingly stressed and the assailant was beginning to physically assault them, we opted for an intervention," Colonel Dias clarified.
At least one child was wounded by the attacker before the assault. Law enforcement forces ultimately shot the suspect, confirmed police spokeswoman Letícia Donatello at a press conference cited by the Efe news agency.
The identity of the assailant has not been made public. Police have however established that he suffered from schizophrenia. His motivations and any possible connection with the establishment remain unknown at this stage.
Source: Google News MA — Crime (fr)