SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — President José Antonio Kast said Monday that his administration will tighten security measures at Chile’s schools, following two incidents involving weapons and amid growing concern about school violence in the South American country.
The announcement follows a deadly attack Friday that left one dead and four wounded. The pledge also came on the same day that another student was detained while attempting to enter a school with a loaded firearm.
“We are going to have to take certain measures to protect our students,” Kast said at an event at a school in the capital, Santiago. “These measures, which were previously met with strong resistance, now need to be viewed differently. Society has changed.”
Last Friday, an 18-year-old student carried out a knife attack at a school in northern Chile, killing a 59-year-old school inspector and stabbing four other people, including another staff member and three students.
One of the victims remains hospitalized in critical condition, while the attacker remains in custody.
The attack is considered one of the worst cases of school violence in Chile.
Kast, leader of the Chilean far right who took office in early March, said that “the events that shock us all continue to occur,” referring to Monday’s incident, when a 15-year-old tried to enter a school carrying a loaded gun.
“Today, once again, a student was found in a school with an object capable of harming other children,” he said.
Kast announced that his government will seek to implement “measures for greater control over access to schools,” without providing further details.
Education Minister María Paz Arzola said that her office is drafting a bill that would allow teachers to inspect students’ backpacks. She also said that the government will work to expedite the implementation of metal detectors at schools.
The teenager who was arrested by the police on Monday had tried to enter a school in the city of Curicó, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Santiago, with a gun and ammunition tucked into his waistband.
“Police arrived at the scene… they detained the minor, the weapon was seized, and they proceeded with the arrest,” Maj. Juan Díaz Serrano, of Chile’s police force, told reporters, adding that the student did not make any threats and did not “pull out the weapon to intimidate any staff member or classmate.”
While armed attacks remain rare in Chile, the nation’s high schools and universities have a storied history of activism. During the major social upheavals of 2011 and 2019, students adopted a confrontational stance against the political and business elite to demand systemic reforms.
In late 2024, more than 30 students were wounded after an explosion caused by homemade firebombs intended for use during a student protest in Santiago. In May, three students were shot and wounded during a shooting inside a school in the Bío Bío region, in what authorities described as the first school shooting in Chile.
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