Janaúba massacre

A child, Matheus Felipe Rocha, 5, died on October 9, and Geni Oliveira Lopes Martins, 63, died on November 6, and Jéssica Morgana Silva Santos, a teacher, died on December 4. After the death of Gabriel Carvalho Oliveira, 5, on January 11, 2018 the death toll rose to fourteen. Some of the wounded suffered from smoke inhalation. Some victims were transferred to Santa Casa de Montes Claros, about 130 km from Janaúba. The most severely burned victims were transferred using aircraft to the João XXIII hospital in Belo Horizonte, about 550 km away, which has specialized burn care. The case moved the country and had international repercussions.

On the morning of Thursday, 5 October 2017, Damião Soares dos Santos, a night watchman at daycare Centro Municipal de Educação Infantil Gente Inocente in Janaúba, Minas Gerais, Brazil, invaded a classroom where dozens of children between the ages of 3 and 7 were taking part in normal school activities. Santos locked the door and doused fuel on several children, employees and himself. The resulting fire killed fourteen, including himself, ten children and three adults and wounded thirty-seven.

The night watchman, Damião Soares dos Santos (21 May 1967, Porteirinha, in the northern region of Minas Gerais – 5 October 2017), resided in Janaúba, in same name of Brazilian state where his family lived. He chose his father's three-year death anniversary for the daycare fire. Police found gas in his home and two days before the fire, he told his family that he was going to die and that that would be his "gift" to them. He was the youngest sibling out of eleven. According to neighbours, he was a discrete individual who sold home-made popsicles to children.