Suspect killed after 13 kindergarteners taken hostage, beaten in Brazil

What the report says

Brazilian police rescued 13 kindergarten children after a hostage incident at a school in Curitiba, in the southern state of Parana, according to Al Jazeera’s report based on police and local officials. The confrontation took place on Friday in the Sao Braz neighborhood, where authorities said a man entered a classroom, held the children inside and threatened to ignite a fire using a lighter while spreading a flammable substance in the room.

Police said the suspect was armed with a knife and what first appeared to be a gun, though it was later determined to be fake. Negotiators tried to resolve the standoff for about three hours, but officials said the situation escalated when the children became increasingly distressed and the suspect began assaulting them. Police then carried out a tactical intervention and killed the suspect, whose identity was not released. One child was reported injured, though officials did not say how the injury happened.

Local authorities said the children were taken to safety and that school staff and students would receive psychological support. Curitiba’s mayor said the children were alive and safe after the operation. The incident adds to concern in Brazil over attacks on schools in recent years, including a deadly 2023 assault at a day care center in Blumenau, also in the south of the country.