Six people were killed and one injured in a stabbing at a kindergarten in Lianjiang, a city in Guangdong Province, on Monday.
The victims of the 7:40 a.m. local time attack included three children, two parents, and a teacher, according to Reuters.
A suspect, a 25-year-old man with the surname Wu, was detained by police at 8:00 a.m. local time.
The crime took place at the Red Star Kindergarten of Excellence in Hengshan Township, and nearby resident Wang Lu (pseudonym) told The Epoch Times, “It’s so serious and frightening.”
Mr. Wang said it happened around 7:30 a.m., the time when parents drop off their children. “The man first drove a small car and crashed into the kindergarten door, then rushed in with a knife.” At 8 o'clock, he heard the sound of multiple ambulances arriving.
“It’s so tragic. An 8-month pregnant woman is also dead, and the fetus in her womb is likely not alive.” Mr. Wang heard that the wife of the suspect was a kindergarten teacher, and she was sent to the hospital with injuries.
“Nowadays, society is very complicated. Some people who have a poor capacity to bear can take things too hard and may not want to live.” Mr. Wang said that the man did not run after committing the murder, but waited for the police to catch him.
When reporters called the kindergarten’s phone number, someone picked up the phone and then hung up.
“The scene is so tragic, so cruel,” local resident A Bao (pseudonym) told The Epoch Times, adding that after the incident, the kindergarten and the surrounding roads were all blocked off, and all stores were prohibited from operating. Since all information was blocked off, locals do not know the motive behind the killings.
The attack sparked outrage on Weibo, China’s social media platform, where the discussion gained over 400 million views.
“It’s outrageous to do this to children who have no power at all. How many families will be destroyed by this,” one Weibo user said.
In China, violent crimes are rare due to tight security and strict gun control laws, but recent knife attacks targeting children have raised concern over school safety.
One user questioned the security of the school systems after previous similar attacks: “Why do such cases still continue to emerge?”
In 2021, a man attacked a kindergarten in southwest Guangxi, killing two children and injuring 16 others.
Over 50 children sustained burn injuries when a man scaled the wall of a kindergarten in Yunnan Province and attacked it with sodium hydroxide in November 2019.
In March 2010, a knife attack in Fujian Province killed at least eight elementary school pupils. Later in May, a 48-year-old man attacked a kindergarten in Shaanxi Province with a cleaver, killing seven children and injuring 11.
Although the state increased school security in the wake of these two incidents, such attacks have persisted.
From NTD News
