UPDATE 1 -- Axe-wielding man goes on rampage in central China, killing 6

[News_Editor]

UPDATE 1 -- Axe-wielding man goes on rampage in central China, killing 6

2011-09-14 21:32:25 GMT+7 (ICT)

BEIJING (BNO NEWS) -- A farmer believed to be mentally ill went on a rampage in central China on Wednesday morning, state-run media reported, hacking six people to death with his axe.

A brief report from the state-run Xinhua news agency said the 30-year-old farmer was carrying an axe when he attacked two children and four adults on a street in Gongyi, a county-level city belonging to the city of Zhengzhou in Henan province.

Xinhua, citing a city government spokesman, said one preschooler and three adults died at the scene. Two others, one adult and one preschooler, later died at a local hospital after the gruesome attack. The children were aged 1 and 5.

Local resident Li Xiaoqin told Xinhua that the man was known to be mentally ill, hit his parents, and frequently wandered alone through the streets. "The whole ordeal was over quickly, probably within 20 minutes," Li said. "Fortunately, few people were on the street because it was raining, otherwise more people would have been killed."

A government spokesman said police have arrested the suspected attacker, who has been identified as Wang Hongbin and apparently attacked people at random. It was not immediately known from what mental illnesses he was suffering.

Similar rampages regularly take place in China and many are blamed on mental illnesses. In April 2010, 30-year-old Chen Kangbing - who suffered from mental disorders - stabbed 16 children and one teacher at the Leicheng First Primary School in Leizhou City, in south China's Huangdong province. Kangbing was a teacher in Baisha and had been on sick leave since February 2006 because of his mental disorders.

A day later, on April 29, 46-year-old Xu Yuyuan injured 29 children and three adults during a stabbing rampage at the Zhongxin Kindergarten in Taixing city. He reportedly told police that he carried out the attack as a "revenge on society" after a series of personal and business-related humiliations.

Both stabbing rampages were unrelated.

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