OH NO

Brazil’s Leading Presidential Candidate, Jair Bolsonaro, Stabbed at Campaign Event

Jair Bolsonaro is expected to survive the attack, though his injuries are serious.

Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate, Jair Bolsonaro, was stabbed Thursday at a campaign event in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, and has “suffered serious abdominal injuries,” according to the Associated Press. Police say the suspect—40-year-old Adelio Bispo de Oliveira—is in custody, and doctors say Bolsonaro is in “serious but stable condition” after a two-hour surgery. The man considered “Brazil’s Trump” will have to stay in intensive care for at least a week and will require further surgery within months to repair damage to his intestines. Bolsonaro’s son first tweeted that his father was fine but later said his father’s condition was “worse than we thought” and that he was “almost dead” when he arrived at the hospital. Immediately after the attack, event attendees beat up Oliveira. Officials say he was arrested in 2013 for another assault and that he seemed “mentally disturbed.” Earlier this week, Bolsonaro said at a campaign event that he would like to “shoot corrupt members of the leftist Workers’ Party,” which prompted backlash.