Brazil police rescue 13 children held hostage, assailant dead

RIO DE JANEIRO: Police in Brazil on Friday rescued 13 children who had been taken hostage at their kindergarten and killed the assailant who threatened to set fire to the building, officials said.

The incident took place in the southern city of Curitiba.

"We successfully neutralised this person and saved the 13 children, who were taken to be checked out and given care by first responders," the commander of the military police special forces unit in Parana state, Alexandre Lopes Dias, told reporters.

At least one of the children was wounded, he added.

The attacker arrived on a bicycle, jumped the gate at the municipal education centre for young children and barricaded himself in a room with the 13 kindergarteners.

He then spread a flammable substance in the room and held a lighter in his hand. He was carrying a knife and what was initially believed to be a firearm, but was later found to be fake.

"During the entire negotiation, he stayed with all the children around him and one on his lap," the police official said.

Talks lasted between two and a half and three hours. The children became agitated and the attacker started hitting them, Lopes Dias told reporters.

"Once we realised that the kids were becoming increasingly upset, and that the attacker started assaulting them physically, we opted for a tactical intervention to avoid a greater problem," he explained.

Images shown on local television stations revealed teachers and other school personnel ushering other children out of the facility.

Local media reported that several shots were fired and that they heard what sounded like flashbangs.

Police said the assailant had been identified and had schizophrenia. His motive was not immediately clear, nor was it clear whether he had ties to anyone at the kindergarten.

"The 13 children are alive and safe!" Curitiba Mayor Eduardo Pimentel wrote on Instagram.

"After anguishing and tense moments, this is the news we were all waiting for."

Brazil has experienced multiple attacks on schools in recent years. In April 2023, a man killed four children with an axe at a day care centre in Blumenau, also in southern Brazil.