Jair Bolsonaro, the leading candidate in Brazil’s presidential election next month, was stabbed at a campaign event Thursday afternoon, according to multiple reports.
Video of the incident shows Bolsonaro, who belongs to the Social Liberal Party and has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies since 1991, being carried by people in a crowd when suddenly a person walked up to him and stabbed him in the chest.
Bolsonaro’s campaign team has not shared information about his condition. However, two of the candidate’s sons issued statements that the 63-year-old was alive following the incident in Minas Gerais State, in the east of the country.
“We don’t know the severity yet or what is going on,” his son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, said, according to the New York Times.
“Jair Bolsonaro was attacked now in Juiz de Fora, a knife-thrust in the region of the abdomen. Thank God, it was only skin deep and it weighs well. I ask you to intensify the prayers for us!” another son, Flavio Bolsonaro, tweeted, according to a translation.
Jair Bolsonaro sofreu um atentado agora em Juiz de Fora, uma estocada com faca na região do abdômen. Graças a Deus, foi apenas superficial e ele pesa bem. Peço que intensifiquem as orações por nós!
— Flavio Bolsonaro 177 Senador_RJ (@FlavioBolsonaro) September 6, 2018
Bolsonaro is the leading contender in the October election, one of a half-dozen candidates. A Ibope poll issued this week found he had 22 percent support, 10 points more than the second-highest ranked candidate.
