Attacks on Brazilian schools are becoming disturbingly common

The massacre of four children at a daycare center in Blumenau, southern Brazil, on Wednesday just the latest violent incident at a Brazilian school — a phenomenon that seemed foreign to the country just a few years ago, but is growing regrettably familiar.

Data collection on such incidents in Brazil remains spotty, and the numbers are inconsistent. But the University of São Paulo’s Monitor of Political Debate Online has logged 22 school attacks since 2002 — half of them in the past year. A study by the government’s transition cabinet, meanwhile, showed that another 34 attacks were avoided.

The four children killed in Blumenau were between the ages of 4 and 7. Another five children, aged 2 and younger, were injured — one is in critical condition. This was the third school attack in Brazil this year, and came just ten days after the previous incident.

But it wasn’t the only alarming news of the day. Also on Wednesday, authorities reported two serious threats of school violence.

Police arrested a chemistry student at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro after he sent violent messages to his classmates threatening to commit a massacre and rape female students on April 10.

Meanwhile, authorities in Mato Grosso do Sul took three teenagers into custody after uncovering a plan to attack their school. Operating through a WhatsApp group, they allegedly exchanged pictures of two firearms and a dagger, but the police found no weapons in their possession.

Experts suggest that the rise in school attacks may be linked to the online recruitment of young people by the far-right. Social media and online platforms are reportedly being used to co-opt young people and desensitize them to extremist ideologies.

While many observers may be tempted to compare what is happening in Brazil to the reality in the U.S., the situation in the two countries is very different. Access to firearms is much more restricted in Brazil, although controls were relaxed during the four years of the former Jair Bolsonaro administration. 

As of late March, the Gun Violence Archive has counted 130 mass shootings in the U.S. this year. In Brazil, many attacks are still carried out with bladed weapons or, as in the Blumenau case, a hatchet.

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