An 18-year-old student stabbed to death inspector María Victoria Reyes and injured four people at Instituto Obispo Silva Lezaeta in Calama on Friday. Authorities suspended classes at the school and announced urgency for a bill to bolster school security. The teachers' union president called for more education funding amid rising violence.
On Friday morning at Instituto Obispo Silva Lezaeta in Calama, Antofagasta region, 18-year-old fourth-year student Hernán Meneses Leal attacked staff and students with a bladed weapon. Inspector María Victoria Reyes, 59, died at the scene from severe wounds. Three students under 15 and a teaching assistant were injured.
Meneses carried knives, pepper spray, synthetic thinner, a baton, and a device resembling a bomb, checked by Carabineros' GOPE unit. He posted hints of the attack on social media, and the weapons bore names of foreign school shooters, according to the PDI leading the probe.
Calama's Guarantee Court extended his detention until Tuesday, March 31, for technical forensics and medical reports. Prosecutors charge him with consummated and attempted homicide.
Education Minister María Paz Arzola and Public Security Minister Trinidad Steinert visited Calama, pledging urgency to the summer-approved Convivencia Escolar bill for metal detectors and security aid. Arzola announced class suspension with gradual return and psychological support from Monday.
"What matters is taking swift, timely measures so this does not happen again," Steinert said.
Teachers' union president Mario Aguilar spoke with Arzola, urging no education budget cuts. "Education does not need fewer resources; it needs more," he stated, calling for a holistic plan emphasizing emotional education.
At Reyes' Saturday wake at the school, daughter Carolina Collado Reyes praised her dedication: "She was a very good woman with a noble heart." Sister Catalina demanded justice: "We all hope justice is served."
