Aquarela daycare center knife attack (Brazil)

There is a sofa blocking the entrance to one of the houses in the suburb of Saudades, in western Santa Catarina. The scene clashes. In a city of 10,000 inhabitants with no worries about security, the residences have no wall, fence or gate. It was the way found by the family of the 18-year-old who broke into a daycare center and killed five people on Tuesday to protect the property and leave the city.

That day, Fabiano Kipper Mai had his last meal at home around 9:30 am, minutes before committing the attack. He was on his break time at the company he worked for, a sports equipment manufacturer. According to colleagues, he used to arrive promptly at 5 am at work.

Attentive and competent, he was seen as an example of productivity in the making. On the other hand, he did not chat with anyone.

- He did the work of two people, and when he finished the task earlier, he still helped others who were not finished - says a colleague from the sector, who did not want to identify himself.

Whoever studied with him at the Rodrigues Alves State School says that the boy did not have the same commitment in his studies. He had repeated the year and abandoned the last term during the pandemic, when classes started to be online.

- He had no disciplinary problems, but the teachers commented that he had no attitude in the classroom. The school was not his world. So we recommend a psychologist, but we don't feel very firm (that they would accept it) - says Rosilene Mohr, director at the time when the boy was in elementary school.

At school, the young man was known to often sit alone on one of the benches, under a mural. He had, according to the director, “always fixed his gaze on the floor”.

Acquaintances say it was common to see Fabiano walking looking at the floor and with his hands in his pockets. The young man has been away from friends for the past two or three years. Before, he used to accompany the neighborhood boys on bicycle tours around the city. When he attended meetings at one of their homes, he said little, and interactions were limited to the laughter of others' jokes. This was when he was not the target of the games.

- The staff “made fun of” him because he was tall, strange - says a former schoolmate.

Before breaking into the nursery, the attacker left his home only for work. Unlike other 18-year-olds, he has no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or cell phone. He spent the day on the computer. He was talented, according to friends, at Free Fire, an action game in which several players interact at the same time.

The young man's introspection has led neighbors and acquaintances to wonder in recent days what his motivation might have been. The answer may come from the notebook and flash drive seized by the police and which are being analyzed by experts. Investigators want to know what motivated the crime and whether the young man had accomplices or was encouraged by others.

In state custody and with preventive detention decreed by the courts, he did not receive a visit from his parents at the hospital, where he is hospitalized for attempted suicide with a cut on his neck at the crime scene. His clinical condition has evolved well and he is no longer sedated, according to a medical report released the day before. A baby aged 1 year and 8 months, who had a punctured lung, is also hospitalized.
Lucas Goulart, doctor in social psychology from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and researcher of extremist behavior in anonymous internet forums, makes an alert for the case of Saudades.

He says that, although it is still not possible to say that the aggressor has had contact with this type of virtual space, the crime has the pattern of "incel terrorism" - short for "involuntary celibates", in English. Incels are defined as resentful men who foment hatred against women on Internet forums. They blame women for failing to find a romantic and sexual partner. Several attacks on schools around the world in recent years have shown signs of this type of behavior.

- Shock is a central aspect for these anonymous forums, because it works under the logic of the internet. Amid so many shocking stories, only very extreme things stand out, and that's what they are interested in - says Goulart.

"Fantasy of domination"

The researcher, however, says it is necessary to focus on the means of prevention and treatment for this type of behavior, which, according to him, has nothing to do with video games.

- Yes, there is a subgroup that comes from this world, that uses this male fantasy of domination and violence - he says.

For the researcher, the best way to reduce this type of attack is to expand the public network of collective mental health and social assistance. Parents and educators, he says, need to have more access and information about this type of service so that they can identify patterns and resort to treatment.