Nine killed in latest school stabbing
08:44, May 13, 2010
At least seven children and two adults were stabbed to death in a village kindergarten on Wednesday morning in Nanzheng of Shaanxi province, the latest case in a series of school attacks across the country, local authorities said.
The 48-year-old local farmer behind the attack injured another 11 children in the frenzy, an official who did not want to be named told China Daily.
The attack came after local and central authorities boosted security forces and funds in the past weeks for places vulnerable to such attacks.
The farmer allegedly attacked almost everyone in the kindergarten, as only about 20 children were in the nursery when the rampage broke out at about 8 am, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The suspect, Wu Huanming, committed suicide after returning home from the scene, the emergency office of the Shaanxi provincial government said.
The privately run kindergarten is located in Linchang village of Shengshui township, in Nanzheng county of Hanzhong city, local officials and police confirmed.
All of the seven children who were killed - two girls and five boys - are under the age of five, local officials said.
Wu Hongying, the head of the kindergarten, died on the spot while her mother, who helped run the kindergarten, died in hospital on Wednesday afternoon.
A local resident said that the suspect rented his property to the kindergarten and said "everyone almost knows each other in the small village".
Police are still investigating the case and the alleged killer's motive.
Most injured people had been rushed to the No 3201 hospital in Hanzhong
Officials from the general office of the hospital refused to provide any information, including the number, ages and condition of those injured.
Li Xiaofei, a police officer from the neighboring Chengguan township police station of the county, said no cops are permanently stationed in Linchang village and the nearest one is 5 to 6 kilometers away.
In such an underdeveloped village, using extra funds to hire security guards to prevent any violent situation is "almost impossible", Li said.
Li said the city's public security bureau had issued directives in recent days asking for tightened security forces at and around schools.
"But we can only focus on the schools with the highest populations because the strength of the police force is just not enough," Li said.
"Take Chengguan township in central Nanzheng for example, we have only 11 criminal investigation policemen for a population of 110,000. But at least 20 schools are located there."
As of Wednesday, the death toll from five school attacks in five provinces in the past month had amounted to 17.
The Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Education held an urgent meeting on Wednesday afternoon, urging for more tightened security measures on campus.
Schools and kindergartens in rural areas or city suburbs, or those run privately, should receive particular attention, a statement from the Ministry of Public Security said.
Warning of "copycat killings", psychologists said media reports on such violent cases should be handled properly.
"The violent attacks mostly result from a lack of counseling support for people who feel they are suffering from rising inequality and a widening wealth gap," said Xu Yan, dean of the psychology school of Beijing Normal University.
"Details about the attacks should be played down in media reports. Focus should be on causes for the attacks and the counter measures needed to address them instead," she said.
Yang Dongping, an expert on education at the Beijing Institute of Technology, said: "Media reports about these attacks have helped to create a copycat effect.
"People who are mentally unstable or who nurse hatred toward society then feel that this is a way of exacting revenge, or of making their demands."
Zhou Yongkang, a Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said on Wednesday that the country has made much progress since its reform and opening up in 1978, but social conflict has also emerged.
"China hopes to work with other countries to improve capabilities to ensure social equality, justice and to promote social harmony and stability," Zhou told a visiting Slovakian delegation.
