Children in China school attack were as young as 3
Children as young as 3 years old were among the victims targeted in an attack at a kindergarten in northwestern China that killed seven toddlers and two adults, a doctor said Thursday.
The attacker who charged into the kindergarten Wednesday and hacked at his victims with a cleaver was also a familiar figure to them, said another doctor. The killer, 48-year-old Wu Huanming, committed suicide at home following the attack.
The assault, which left 11 other children hospitalized, was China’s fifth such school rampage in less than two months, and occurred despite heightened security countrywide, with gates and cameras installed at some schools and additional police and guards posted at entrances.
The attacks have raised concerns about the rising emotional stress in China’s high-pressure, rapidly changing society, along with a dire lack of infrastructure to diagnose and treat severe mental illness.