As far as I know the ones stabbed weren't those who took pictures with him. The article says, and as I wrote in OP, after the pictures he went to classrooms, knocked on doors and stabbed those who answered.

In a fucked up way, maybe those who showed interest in him became not-a-target for the attacker.

I wonder how young a person can be for us to understand whether or not they are supposed to have a clear grasp of danger or not depending on age.

A man comes to a school in a costume a week before Halloween in a country that hasn't had a similar atrocity in almost 60 years, and people are seriously wondering how a bunch of elementary school kids weren't afraid to take pictures with the guy?

Come on, guys.

Not as collectibles, but these need to have their edges dulled so much they couldn't even cut trough butter anymore.

Ah, I see. We were talking about two different things, nevermind.

Wow. First thing that came to my mind after reading the title was "northern states". I'm shocked.

Those kids weren't being stupid, they were being human. We are a curious animal especially towards slightly wierd things. These kids have never been exposed to the sort of violence that seems to be a bit par for the course in american schools nowadays. Appearently at that point he also wasn't acting hostile yet, so it's not like they ran towards danger to take pictures with a murderer or something. They probably thought it was a prank/cosplayer/halloween costume. There hadn't been a single incident in 50 Years. They were trusting and curious.

Aside from that, they probably would even have reacted much different if he had been holding a knife. Swords are just not assoiciated as active, dangerous weaponry nowadays. How many of us have even ever seen a real life sword?

In the worst ironic twist possible, this probably would not have happened at an american school, where security is that much tighter.

To all those people calling them idiots for taking pictures with him, how many incidents have you heard of where a dude in a costume with a sword went on a killing spree?

It's a different country. If this happened in the US, he would have been attacked. But when you haven't had a school incident since 1961, you're bound to be lax.

To be fair, in a world where school attacks haven't happened in 54 years, it's not crazy to think that these kids are sheltered from the truth that they're not safe. Think about pre-9/11 airports or pre-Columbine schools. 

well the thing is people probbaly thought it was some actor in a costume for something.  you don't expect these kind of things in peacful countries lol.