Six killed in kindergarten attack in China; suspect detained
Three students are among the fatalities following the attack in Lianjiang county.
A police cordon is placed in the aftermath of a stabbing attack at a kindergarten in Lianjiang county, Guangdong province, China in this still image obtained from social media video on Jul 10, 2023. (Photo: Reuters)
BEIJING: Six people were killed and one wounded in a stabbing at a kindergarten in China's Guangdong province on Monday (Jul 10).
"The victims include one teacher, two parents and three students ... and one suspect has been arrested," said a spokesperson for the city government in Lianjiang, where the incident occurred.
The spokesperson did not offer details about the identities or ages of the victims.
The suspect was a 25-year-old man surnamed Wu, local police said in a statement, adding that it was an "intentional assault".
"The incident was a stabbing," a Lianjiang police spokesman said.
The attack happened at about 7.40am.Â
A tall, thin man with his hands pinned to his back is seen being shoved into a police car in a video published by Sanxiang Metropolis Daily, run by the government in neighbouring Hunan province.
Other videos shot by passers-by claiming to show the crime scene were swiftly removed from video-sharing platform Douyin and Twitter-like Weibo.
SPATE OF ATTACKS
While violent crime is rare in China due to strict gun laws and tight security, incidents of stabbings at preschools over the past few years have raised concerns about school safety.
Last August, three people were killed and six others wounded in a knife attack at a kindergarten in southeast China's Jiangxi province.
In April 2021, two children were killed and 16 others wounded when a knife-wielding man entered a kindergarten in southern China.
In June of the previous year, 37 students and two adults were wounded by a knife-wielding attacker at a primary school in southern China.
And in November 2019, a man climbed a kindergarten wall in southwest Yunnan province and sprayed people with a corrosive liquid, wounding 51 of them, mostly students.
The same year, eight schoolchildren died and two others were wounded in a "school-related criminal case" in the central Hubei province, with a 40-year-old man arrested.
And in April 2018, a 28-year-old man killed nine college students and injured 12 others outside their school in the northern province of Shaanxi.
The attacker later said he acted out of revenge after being harassed by a student at the same school.
The latest incident sparked emotive debate on Weibo. By 1.50pm, it was the top-trending discussion, with 290 million views.
Some social media users called for the suspect to face the death penalty.
"It's outrageous to do this to children who have no power at all. How many families will be destroyed by this ... I support the death penalty," one Weibo user said.
Another user questioned security at schools, especially after similar previous attacks.
"Why do such cases still continue to emerge?"
