[Source: Reuters]

A man armed with a small axe climbed over a wall into a crèche in Southern Brazil and killed four children, police said, injuring five others in the attack.

The 25-year-old man turned himself into police after the rampage, security chief Marcio Alberto Filippi told reporters.

Police said three boys – two aged 4 and one aged 5 – and one girl aged 7 were killed.

Four of the injured children between the ages of 3 to 5 were being treated in a hospital and were reported in stable condition, while a fifth child had minor injuries, police said.

Fearing their children might be among the victims, desperate parents rushed to the day-care centre in the city of Blumenau in the state of Santa Catarina, as police and firefighters investigated the situation.

The attacker had a history of violence and drugs, and had stabbed his stepfather in March 2021, police said.

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.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called the attack a “monstrosity.”