A 23-year-old Chinese national has been arrested for a stabbing attack against three young boys in a Swiss daycare in Zurich’s district 11.
All three victims were five years old, according to the Zurich police force. One of the boys suffered serious injuries in the attack, while the other two victims were brought to the hospital with moderate injuries.
Although little information has been released about the attack, the Zurich police wrote that an employee was on her way to lunch with several children when the man suddenly approached the group and began attacking the children with a sharp weapon.
The woman, along with another employee, heroically overpowered the perpetrator during the attack which occurred on Berninastrasse shortly after noon.
Police arrived on scene, cordoned off the area, and set up a crime scene.
A witness told NZZ that she heard children screaming and later saw the daycare worker and an employee of the nearby Migration Office holding the man to the ground. A knife was nearby on the ground.
The man was arrested at the scene and questioned by police. Heavily armed police officers searched a residential building after the attack.
So far, there is no known motive as to why he stabbed the children. Authorities have determined that the suspect is a student in Switzerland.
Parents rushed to the daycare after the attack with one father stating they were not immediately allowed to see their children. Police also questioned parents about the attack.
The stabbing follows a wave of foreign nationals stabbing European schoolchildren and kindergarten-age children, including a recent stabbing spree in the United Kingdom which cost three children their lives.
Similar attacks have also occurred in Germany and France.
