Woman stabbed to death in ‘unprovoked' sword attack on streets of Beijing
A woman from Shandong province was stabbed to death and a Frenchman wounded in a sword attack in a popular Beijing shopping district on Thursday afternoon.
The police were called to the scene after a sword-wielding 25-year-old man wounded the woman and the man in front of a Uniqlo outlet in the Sanlitun area, the municipal security bureau said on its official microblog.
The woman died later in hospital and the man received medical treatment, the police statement said.
The suspect, who was only identified by his surname, Gao, was detained at the scene, the police said, without giving any indication of his motive.
He came from Tonghua in northeastern Jilin province, the statement said.
A nearby vendor said the police quickly sealed off the small area in front of the mall for about an hour.
Photos taken by passers-by and posted on social media showed a man holding a sword and standing alone in front of the shop. Another photo showed a mall employee cleaning blood from the scene.
The shopping area is popular with expatriates and young mainlanders who visit its bar streets and international brand-name stores.
Rudy Mizere, from Congo who was transiting in Beijing before taking a flight to Britain, said he was scared when he heard the news.
“I can’t say I will never come again, but I would avoid coming so often if I am in Beijing,” he said. “If it happened once, it will probably happen again.”
