CALAMA — A 12th-grade student killed a 59-year-old school supervisor and injured four others in a stabbing attack at Instituto Obispo Silva Lezaeta in Calama, Chile, on March 27, 2026. The attack occurred at about 10:40 a.m. local time in the northern Antofagasta region.

The student attacked three fellow students and two members of school staff before officers who arrived at the scene subdued and detained the attacker. The school was evacuated and classes were canceled following the incident.

Antofagasta governor Ricardo Díaz said that the assailant was a student who was carrying accelerant liquids at the time of the attack. Díaz described the situation as extremely serious.

Details on the conditions of the four injured were not immediately available at the time of reporting. The attacker's identity and age had not been released, and no details on the attacker's motives were available.

Investigators are working on the hypothesis that the attack was premeditated.

Chile has a long history of school violence. Chile is known for student protests that frequently turn violent. Armed attacks in Chile are unusual.

In late 2024, more than 30 pupils were injured in an explosion caused by the manufacturing of incendiary devices intended for use at a student demonstration in Santiago. In May 2026, three students were shot inside a school in the Bío Bío region in what authorities described as the first shooting to occur inside a school in Chile.