- Four of the victims are allegedly the stabber’s own children.
- A sixth child and an adult seriously injured, hospitalized.
- Officers shot and wounded suspect after he attacked police with knife.
A man stabbed nine people, including five children, to death overnight in Suriname’s capital Paramaribo, police said Sunday, adding that the suspect was wounded and arrested.
The man appeared to be suffering from mental health problems and four of his own children were among those killed in the attack, which took place in and around his home, according to local media.
The suspect had an argument with his wife over the phone before stabbing one of the victims, his 11-year-old daughter, 44 times in the kitchen of their home, local media reported.
“A man killed four adults and five children with a sharp object in a residence in Hadji Iding Soemitaweg,” local police said in a statement. “A sixth child and an adult were seriously injured and were transported to the hospital, according to the statement.
Officers who arrived at the scene had to open fire on the suspect when “he attacked police with a sharp object,” the statement said.
The man suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and has been hospitalized under police supervision, the police said without identifying him.
“Further details of the true circumstances of this tragic attack will follow,” the statement concluded.
According to the local press, which visited the scene of the attack and spoke to the man’s neighbors in Hadji Iding Soemitaweg, a neighborhood in the Commewijne district, the suspect had mental problems.
Suriname President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons said this in response to the killings on her Facebook page.
“At a time when family and friends should be standing together and supporting each other, we are faced with the harsh reality that there is another side of the world,” she wrote.
“A father who takes the lives of his own children and in the process also kills his neighbors. I wish all those who are grieving much strength, courage and comfort during this unimaginably difficult time.”
