- Four of the victims allegedly stabbed their own children.
- A sixth child and an adult seriously injured, hospitalized.
- The officers shot the suspect after he attacked police with a knife.
A man stabbed to death nine people, including five children, overnight in Suriname’s capital Paramaribo, police said on Sunday, adding that the suspect was injured and arrested.
The man appeared to suffer from mental health problems and four of his own children were among the victims of the attack, which took place in and around his home, according to local media.
The suspect argued on the phone with his wife 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 taken to hospital, according to the press release.
Police officers who arrived at the scene had to open fire on the suspect because “he attacked the police with a sharp object,” the statement said.
The man was shot in the leg and was hospitalized under police guard, police said without identifying him.
“Further details on the true circumstances of this tragic attack will follow,” the statement concluded.
According to local press, which visited the scene of the attack and spoke with the man’s neighbors in Hadji Iding Soemitaweg, a neighborhood in the Commewijne district, the suspect suffered from mental health problems.
Suriname President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons said in response to the killings on her Facebook page.
“In a time when family and friends must stick together and support each other, we are faced with the harsh reality that there is another side to the world,” she wrote.
“A father who kills his own children and in doing so also kills his neighbors. I wish all those who are grieving much strength, courage and comfort during this unimaginably difficult time.”
