4 Kids Killed, 5 Hurt In Axe Attack At Brazil Pre-School, 'Act Of Cowardice' Says President

<p>Four children between the ages of four and seven were killed after a man with an axe scaled the wall and entered a creche in southern Brazil on Wednesday. Five children were also injured in the attack. The 25-year-old attacker surrendered to the police after the rampage.</p> <p>Police said three boys - two aged four and one aged five - and one girl aged seven were killed, Reuters reported.</p> <p>Four of the injured children between the ages of three to five were being treated in a hospital and were reported in stable condition, while a fifth child had minor injuries, police said.</p> <p>President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called the attack a "monstrosity."</p> <p>"A tragedy like this is unacceptable, an absurd act of hate and cowardice ... an act of violence against innocent and defenseless children," Lula said in a Twitter post.</p> <p>Fearing their children might be among the victims, desperate parents rushed to the day-care center in the city of Blumenau in the state of Santa Catarina, as police and firefighters investigated the situation.</p> <p>"Thank God my daughter was not among the victims," one father told reporters. "She is fine physically, but emotionally destroyed. How am I going to get this out of her head?" he added.</p> <p>The police said the attacker had a history of violence and drugs, and had stabbed his stepfather in March 2021.</p> <p>The attack came nearly a week after a 13-year-old student stabbed a teacher to death and wounded five others in a Sao Paulo school.</p> <h3><strong>13 School Shooting Incidents In 2023</strong></h3> <p>The recent mass shooting in US&rsquo; Nashville, which claimed the lives of 6 people including three children and three adults, has taken the overall mass shooting toll in the country to 129 in 2023 and is the 13th incident of gun violence in a school this year.&nbsp;</p> <p>As per a report by DailyMail, California, Texas and Florida reported 12 mass shootings each this year, while Louisiana witnessed 11, and Illinois suffered eight incidents of gun violence.&nbsp;</p> <h3><strong>&nbsp;</strong></h3>