A man stabbed three people to death and wounded five others in Shenzhen yesterday in the latest in a series of knife rampages on the mainland.
He grabbed a knife, injuring the restaurant's owner when he tried to stop him. He then went into the street and started attacking pedestrians.
Police said the suspect, from Jieyang , Guangdong, had mental health problems and had been on regular medication since 1991. "He escaped from his father's care … and injured himself with the knife when police officers tried to subdue him," a statement said.
It was the sixth report of a stabbing spree in less than two weeks. The attacks have left 13 dead and 18 injured. Police suggested at least three of the attackers had mental health problems.
Witnesses of the Shenzhen incident described it on their microblog accounts yesterday.
"He was attacking people with a half-metre-long knife. An elderly woman and a man were already down, lying in blood," one said. Another confirmed the police account of the man injuring himself, saying he "wounded his thigh, leaving blood on the ground when he tried to escape".