The 25-year-old man who stabbed several people at a training and rehabilitation center for drug addicts in Santarém has been ordered into preventive detention after being detained for five counts of attempted murder and one of serious physical harm.
The crime occurred last Tuesday, October 21, at the Picapau Association’s facilities, where the man was a user.
In a statement released this Monday, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Comarca of Santarém stated that, “initially, the defendant went to the kitchen where he grabbed a knife and used it to approach two other users of the institution.”
One of the victims was stabbed “in the kidney area” and fell to the ground. The suspect then “pursued the other victim” and “returned to the kitchen where he seized two more knives.”
The users and workers of the institution sought “refuge in closed spaces” within the premises, but the suspect managed to “locate one of the victims in the bathroom” and “delivered blows to the chest area.”
The suspect attempted to attack the “remaining users and workers of the institution” and only stopped with the arrival of the National Republican Guard (GNR) officers, who apprehended him red-handed.
The man was brought before a judicial hearing last Thursday, October 23, and was subjected to preventive detention.
According to the statement, the inquiry will continue in the 2nd section of the Department of Investigation and Penal Action of the Santarém district, with assistance from the Judicial Police.
Attack in Santarém center was not “indiscriminate”. Suspect chose victims
In statements to SIC Notícias, the technical director of the Picapau Association, Sara Fernandes, said the suspect is “a calm, peaceful, and affable person” who had never exhibited “aggressive behavior.”
According to Fernandes, the severe incident followed a confrontational therapeutic session, where users are questioned about some of their behaviors. During this meeting, the suspect was reportedly alerted about his recent conduct.
“He thought he was going to be subjected to a more severe therapeutic measure, went to the kitchen, and grabbed a knife,” she recounted, adding that, contrary to the belief that the suspect was “indiscriminately stabbing,” the man “chose the people who confronted him more about his less positive behaviors.”
To Lusa, a technician at the Picapau Association described the moments during the attack as “of utter terror.”
“They were of utter terror for all of us, both for the users and for us as technicians, who endured hours of panic,” Vera Batista told Lusa, noting that the authorities, “after the alert, took 40 minutes to arrive, despite the institution being located 10 kilometers from the city of Santarém.”
According to the employee, during this period, the staff and users of the association “tried to barricade themselves in certain places,” while the aggressor “wandered the farm, breaking windows, doors, and extinguishers with everything he could get his hands on.”
A technician from the Picapau Association described the moments during Tuesday’s knife attack that injured eight people at the drug treatment center in Almoster, Santarém municipality, as “of utter terror.”
The alert was given at 2:35 PM last Tuesday and involved 12 vehicles, 32 operatives, the INEM helicopter (HeliSul), and the Vila Franca de Xira Medical Emergency and Resuscitation Vehicle (VMER).
