Neighbors thought China school attacker who slashed and killed 9 was a good, quiet man

Neighbors thought China attacker was a good man

LINCHANG, China — An attacker who slashed and killed seven preschoolers and two adults at a kindergarten in northern China had been depressed and psychotic and attempted suicide at least twice in the weeks before the rampage, police said.

Meanwhile, in the communist leadership’s first comment on a wave of similar school attacks, Premier Wen Jiabao said there was a need to seek the underlying causes in addition to toughening up safety measures.

“We are making serious efforts in tackling social tensions, settling disputes and improving local governments’ ability to smooth things out,” Wen told Hong Kong’s Phoenix TV late Thursday.

Eleven children injured in the attack remained hospitalized Friday in the northwestern city of Hanzhong. The attacker, 48-year-old Wu Huanming, killed himself after returning home after the Wednesday morning mayhem in the farming village of Linchang on Hanzhong’s outskirts.

Speculation on the motive for the attack has centered on a spiraling dispute between Wu Huanming and the school’s administrator, Wu Hongying, to whom Wu Huanming had leased the school.

In addition, Wu had shown signs of depression and psychosis for some time as a result of worsening illnesses, including diabetes and an inflamed prostate, Li Zhenfeng, a deputy Hanzhong police chief, told reporters Thursday.

Wu attempted suicide twice last month and repeatedly told family members of his intention to kill himself, Li said. Wu also believed Wu Hongying had cast a spell on him preventing his recovery, he said.

“With these factors combined, Wu Huanming decided to take his revenge against others and commit suicide, and he directed his hatred toward Wu Hongying,” Li told a news conference.

As in other recent school assaults, Wednesday morning’s attack came with no warning.

Villagers heard screams coming from a preschool run out of Wu Huanming’s two-story farmhouse, then heard Wu shout: “They owed me rent!”

Police and rescue officials who rushed to the scene found more than a dozen dead or injured students, the school’s administrator nearly decapitated, and her 80-year-old mother barely clinging to life. Wu was in his home nearby, dead after apparently slashing his own throat.

Neighbors described Wu as quiet and unremarkable and were struggling to understand how a simple property dispute, the type of which is common in nearly every county in China, had sparked the murderous rampage. Wu had complained that rent wasn’t being paid and demanded his property back. Wu Hongying had wanted to keep the school running until summer vacation.

Wu Huanming “was very honest and didn’t talk much,” said Zhen Xiulan, 71, who lives a short walk away from the school and had known Wu all his life.

“He had a very soft and gentle personality and didn’t have mental problems that we knew of. None of us would ever have imagined he would do something so terrible,” Zhen said.

The case prompted leaders to again call for increased school security following four previous attacks in less than two months, of which the latest was also the deadliest.

All the attackers in recent cases have been men in their thirties or forties, most of them out of work. Knives and hammers are the preferred weapons — guns are tightly controlled in China and obtaining them is virtually impossible.

Sociologists say the recent attacks that have left 17 dead and scores wounded reflect the tragic consequences of ignoring mental illness and rising stress resulting from huge social inequalities in China’s fast-changing society.