9 People, Including 5 Children, Dead After Stabbing Attack By Charlotte Phillipp

Nine people are dead, including five children, after a man attacked a group of people in Suriname.

Police said in a statement that a man — whose identity has not been made public — killed four adults and five children with a sharp object at a residence in Richelieu, a town in the Commewijne district of the South American nation.

He also “seriously injured” a sixth child and another adult during the attack, which took place late at night on Saturday, Dec. 27, into the early hours of Sunday, Dec. 28.

Officials said the two injured people were taken by ambulance to the emergency room of the Academic Hospital Paramaribo in the capital city of Paramaribo and were admitted for treatment.

The suspect attempted to attack police officers from the Eastern Region who responded to the scene, and the man was injured during his arrest, sustaining gunshot wounds to his legs. He has since been hospitalized and is currently being monitored, police said.

“Further details regarding the true circumstances of this tragic attack will follow,” police said.

According to the Daily Mail, local media who spoke to the man’s neighbors reported that he allegedly had mental health issues.

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Suriname President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons shared a statement about the killings on Facebook, writing that she was “shocked by the violent incident in Commewijne.”

“In a time when family and friends should hold and support each other, we are faced with the harsh reality that the world also knows another side,” she wrote in Dutch. “A father who takes the lives of his own children and at the same time kills his neighbors. Wishing all the bereaved much strength, power and comfort at this unimaginably difficult time.”