A father of six was arrested in Mexico City on Tuesday after stabbing his children, dousing them with gasoline and setting them and his house on fire.

The attack occurred at about 9:00pm last night in Ampliación Asturias, a neighborhood in the central borough of Cuauhtémoc.

Neighbors who heard children screaming called police who gained access to the locked home with the help of firefighters.

Six minors aged between 7 and 12, all of whom were suffering from stab wounds and burns, were removed and transferred to hospital. A 12-year-old girl died this morning while the other five remain hospitalized in serious condition.

While police were at the Cuauhtémoc house, the children’s 33-year-old father appeared on its roof, where he cut himself with a knife before flinging himself to the ground in an apparent suicide attempt.

Officers arrested the man, who identified himself as Jorge Villegas Fuentes Elizalde, and transferred him to hospital, where he is in police custody.

A report in the newspaper Reforma said that Fuentes told police that his wife had recently left him and that her departure triggered the attack on his children.

The fire at his home, where furniture and the floor were doused with gas, was extinguished by firefighters but the kitchen and two bedrooms sustained extensive damage.

The Mexico City Attorney General’s Office has initiated an investigation into intentional homicide, malicious injury and arson.

Source: Reforma (sp), Noticieros Televisa (sp)