12-year-old boy stabs six students at Azambuja school
All children are out of danger and the suspect has been suspended indefinitely.
What?
On Tuesday, a 12-year-old boy stabbed and injured six other children in a rare episode of violence inside a school in Azambuja, Lisbon.
The police said that the victims were 11 to 14 years old. Five of them are girls, one is a boy.
The incident happened at around 2.30pm.
“The pupil went out for lunch and came back to school with his rucksack, as normal, and took out a bullet-proof vest, which would have belonged to his father, and a knife,” described the Mayor of Azambuja, Silvino Lúcio.
Once inside the school grounds, the boy began to stab his classmates as they appeared.
“There was no target, no aim to attack a specific person” and he was only stopped by an assistant, who was not injured, added the Mayor.
Silvino Lúcio told SIC Notícias that no-one had predicted that this student would attack his classmates.
Aftermath?
Following the incident, four children (three girls and a boy) were taken to Vila Franca de Xira Hospital, while the child with the most serious injuries (to her head and chest) was transported to Santa Maria Hospital.
Fortunately, by Thursday, she was out of danger. Two girls have been discharged from Vila Franca de Xira Hospital, while two more children remain in hospital.
The Mayor said that psychological counselling is already being provided to the pupils, parents, assistants and the perpetrator of the attack.
What about the boy?
The pupil who stabbed six classmates at a school in Azambuja on Tuesday afternoon was arrested and taken to hospital to undergo a psychological assessment, according to Lusa news agency, citing a police source.
According to information obtained by Rádio Renascença, because of his age, the minor cannot be held criminally responsible, but he is the subject of an indicative tutelary enquiry.
This means that he has been heard by a family and minors judge in the first 48 hours after the incident.
In the meantime, the school management has opened disciplinary proceedings against the student and ordered his preventive suspension.
Reactions?
The official website of President Marcelo carried the following message: “The President of the Republic regrets and repudiates this afternoon’s incident at a secondary school near Lisbon. No circumstances can legitimise such an act of violence.”
Prime Minister Luís Montenegro condemned the attack and wished for the quick recovery of the injured children in a message posted on social media platform X.
He called it an “isolated attack” that was extremely rare in his country.
“It was an isolated act and a strange occurrence in Portuguese society, but one that should make everyone who works in public space reflect with a sense of responsibility,” Montenegro said.