A teacher stabbed and killed an eight-year-old girl at an elementary school in South Korea.

On February 10, a teacher in her 40’s took an eight-year-old girl to the second floor audio-visual room and stabbed her to death. Around 5:15 p.m., the young girl was reported missing, and around 6:00 p.m., her grandmother found her and the teacher on the second floor. The teacher was beside her victim and had wounds on her own neck, which police say were self-inflicted. They were both rushed to the hospital, but the eight-year-old was pronounced dead upon arrival. 

The suspect told police that she had recently returned to work after a period of leave for health reasons. According to the Daejeon education office, the teacher took a six-month leave for depression but returned to work after about three weeks. Days before the stabbing, she put a coworker in a headlock. After that, the education office recommended she go back on leave. According to the suspect, she was annoyed that she couldn’t go back to teaching.

A student at Thunderbird wonders if the incident could have been avoided if the teacher had been put on leave when it was recommended. “I think schools should enforce rules to protect the well-being of the students,” said Brenda Ramirez, freshman.