After a knife attack at a school in the Brazilian metropolis of São Paulo, a seriously injured teacher died.
As the government of the state of the same name announced, four other victims were injured, but their lives were not in danger. A student suffered a shock. According to the news portal “G1”, the 71-year-old teacher finally suffered a cardiac arrest and died in the hospital. According to Governor Tarcísio de Freitas, a 13-year-old suspect was arrested.
The São Paulo government declared three days of mourning. De Freitas, currently traveling in Europe, tweeted: “I cannot put into words my sadness at the news of the attack on students and teachers at the Thomazia Montoro State School in Vila Sônia.” The teacher had worked at the school since 2013 and had been teaching science there since the beginning of the year.
Gym teacher overpowered attackers
Public Safety Secretary Guilherme Derrite told the press that a physical education teacher overpowered the attacker, preventing anything worse from happening. “It was she who immobilized the attacker, she made sure that the knife was taken from him. Without her heroic actions, the tragedy would certainly have been much greater.” A few minutes later, a police school unit routinely patrolling arrived at the scene. The military police were also summoned and the alleged perpetrator was finally arrested.
The motive for the knife attack was initially unclear. According to the Brazilian news agency Agencia Brasil, initial information indicated a dispute between the perpetrator and another student last week. On Brazilian television, citing parents, it was said that physical violence was the order of the day at the school.
After a rampage in the city of Suzano in March 2019 that killed ten people, police controls at schools in São Paulo were stepped up. The act of a young knife attacker about two years ago, who broke into a preschool in southern Brazil and killed five people, also caused horror. Compared to other countries, such knife attacks are rather rare in the largest state in Latin America. While Brazil is one of the countries with the highest rates of violent crime, organized crime, petty criminals and police violence account for most of the crime.
Mitteilung Regierung São Paulo 1 Bericht G1 Tweet Tarcísio Freitas 1 Tweet Tarcísio de Freitas 2 Bericht Folha de S. Paulo Mitteilung Regierung São Paulo 2
