Teen assailant kills teacher, wounds 4 others at school in Brazil
Sao Paulo, Mar 27 (EFE).- A 13-year-old boy on Monday stabbed a teacher to death with a knife and wounded four others at a school in this Brazilian metropolis, the state government said.
The perpetrator of the attack, which took place at the Thomazia Montoro public school, was arrested after being subdued by a female physical education teacher prior to the police’s arrival on the scene.
The slain teacher, identified as 71-year-old Elisabeth Tenreiro, was fatally stabbed in the back and the head, security camera footage showed.
She was rushed to a local hospital in serious condition but later succumbed to her injuries.
The four other victims – three teachers and a student – are in “stable” condition, according an official bulletin, while another student was reportedly in a “state of shock” and is receiving psychological assistance.
Sao Paulo’s Civil Police force, meanwhile, has launched an investigation to determine the motive for the attack.
The young assailant had gotten into a fight last week with some other students and information about similar incidents at other schools in Brazil was found on his cellphone, according to witnesses cited by local media.
Sao Paulo state Gov. Tarcisio de Freitas, who is currently on a trip to Europe in a bid to attract new investment, lamented the violence on social media.
“I have no words to express my sadness at the news of the attack on students and teachers at the Thomazia Montoro Public School. The 13-year-old has been apprehended, and our efforts are focused on helping the wounded and attending to their families,” he said from London.
Incidents of violence at schools are still rare in Brazil, although they have started to become more frequent.
On Nov. 25, a 16-year-old shot and killed four people in two successive attacks at a pair of schools in Aracruz, a small city in the southeastern state of Espirito Santo.
Two months earlier, a man armed with a revolver and two knives killed a disabled student at a school in the northeastern state of Bahia.
On March 13, 2019, two former students burst into a school in Suzano, a city 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Sao Paulo, killed five students and two employees and left 10 other people wounded before taking their own lives. EFE
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