Four Toddlers Stabbed to Death at Kampala Kindergarten by Man Posing as Parent, Suspect Arrested

Four children between the ages of one and a half and three years old were stabbed to death on Thursday afternoon, April 2, 2026, at a nursery school in the Ggaba district of Kampala, Uganda, in an attack that has shocked the East African nation and drawn widespread international attention.

The suspect, identified by Ugandan police as Okello Christopher Onyu, a man in his mid-to-late thirties, gained access to the Ggaba Early Childhood Development Programme School – located within the premises of Maranatha Community Church in the Makindye Division of Kampala – by posing as a parent seeking to enrol a child.

Police spokeswoman Racheal Kawala confirmed the deaths in a statement posted to the Uganda Police Force’s official X account on Thursday afternoon: “We confirm a tragic incident at the Ggaba Early Childhood Development Program school in Makindye Division, Kampala City, where a male suspect brutally stabbed and killed four juveniles,” Kawala stated.

She confirmed the four deceased were three boys and one girl, aged between approximately one and a half and three years.

According to the Police, the suspect had visited the nursery the previous week to inquire about admission for a child, paid the required fees, and was told to return the following week. When he returned on Thursday, he entered the school offices, where he briefly engaged the administrator in a conversation. He then stepped outside, locked the gate of the compound – trapping the children inside – and began attacking the children with a bladed weapon.

Some reports describe the weapon as a knife and others as a machete; both the Associated Press and the Washington Post on April 2 used the term machete. Police say investigations are ongoing to determine the motive of the killer.

The three boys killed have been identified by police as Odeke Ryan, aged approximately one and a half years; Eteko Gideon, aged two and a half; Ignacia Seruyange, also aged two and a half; and Kaise Alungat, aged two.

As the suspect attempted to flee the scene following the attack, local residents who had gathered outside the cordoned compound attempted to physically detain and attack him.

Security forces intervened, preventing a lynching and arresting the suspect. Videos circulating on social media showed distressed parents gathered outside the school’s perimeter fence, calling for information about their children.

The Inspector General of Police, Abbas Byakagaba, accompanied by the Director of Operations and other senior officers, visited the scene to assess the situation and oversee the investigation. The bodies of the four deceased children were transported to the city mortuary for post-mortem examination and the school has been cordoned off by police as a crime scene.

Kampala Metropolitan Police described the incident as extremely rare for the Ugandan capital, a city of approximately three million people where attacks of this nature on civilian institutions are virtually unheard of. The attack has prompted calls from child safety advocates and Ugandan community leaders for urgent review of school security protocols, including verification procedures for adults seeking access to early childhood education facilities and the adequacy of physical security at nursery schools and daycare centres across the country.