Betânia Almeida Prestes was sitting at her desk when her student approached from behind.
The security camera at the Dr. Gerson dos Santos Peres State School, in Cametá, Pará, captured the exact moment: the 17-year-old took out a hunting knife and attacked the teacher before she could react in time. Betânia managed to escape the classroom, wounded, and ask for help before being taken to the Cametá Regional Hospital, where her wounds were stitched after doctors confirmed that no vital organs had been damaged.
What continues to raise questions is the motive. Some reports linked the attack to the grading of a mathematics exam submitted that same day, but the Civil Police of Pará dismissed that version: according to her statement, the student simply said that the teacher “wasn’t someone she liked”. Betânia was discharged the next day and, days later, joined a student mobilization demanding greater safety for teachers in classrooms.