A suspect who raided a nursery in Uganda is said to have killed four children with a machete after posing as a parent to enter the school.
Police have confirmed that four children, a girl and three boys, were “brutally stabbed and killed” at a school in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. A 34-year-old suspect has been detained but “the motive behind the killings is still under investigation”, Uganda’s police force added in a brief statement on X. A local journalist members of the public had tried to lynch him before the police made the arrest.
The horrifying incident unfolded at the Ggaba Early Childhood Development Program School in the capital’s Makindye Division.
The local Daily Monitor newspaper said a man has posed as a parent to enter the school. “Eyewitnesses say the suspect disguised himself as a parent and first entered the school offices, where he briefly engaged with the administrator in charge,” it said.
“He later stepped outside, locked the gate, and began attacking the children one after another.”
Police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke said at least four children were killed in the attack, aged between two and three. Investigators are at the scene and a police spokesperson said more details would be provided later.
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Police chief Abas Byakagaba and other senior officers have also been at the school and been briefed on what had happened.
Byakagaba urged the public to remain calm while the police continue to do their work.
The Uganda Police Force said in a statement on X: “We confirm a tragic incident at the Ggaba Early Childhood Development Program school, in Makindye Division Kampala City where a male suspect brutally stabbed and killed four juveniles.
“The suspect has been apprehended, and the motive behind the killings is still under investigation. Further details will be provided in due course.”
People have reacted with shock on social media. “This is terrible and my heart cries for those little souls and their parents,” one person wrote on X. Another added: “This is beyond heartbreaking! May God comfort the parents of the victims. I don’t even know what kind of punishment such a criminal deserves!!”