Parents and teachers on Wednesday night, 5 April, held a vigil outside a daycare centre in Blumenau, Brazil where a man who invaded the building with a hatchet killed four children and wounded at least four others.

According to authorities, the suspect jumped over one of the centre’s walls to gain entry.

The children killed were aged between five and seven.

Simone Aparecida, one of the school teachers, said: “We didn’t think it was [murder]. We thought he scared the kids and left. We didn’t think it could be a massacre.”