Police yesterday described the man who killed an American tourist and injured another as a social loser who had attacked them 'out of despair over personal failures'.
Police said fingerprints and DNA tests confirmed the identity of the killer, who committed suicide immediately after stabbing the American tourists and a Chinese guide at the Drum Tower in Beijing on Saturday.
Tang Yongming, a 47-year-old Hangzhou native, 'had lost all hope after a series of failures in life and took his anger out on society', Xinhua quoted the police department as saying last night in the man's hometown in Zhejiang province.
Police said the case was 'an individual's extreme action', adding that Tang had two failed marriages and was jobless after resigning from a factory in Hangzhou.
'He pinned all his hopes on his 21-year old son, who was detained for 10 days in May 2007 for fraud. In March this year, the son was sentenced to six months in prison with a one-year suspension for theft and fined 2,000 yuan [HK$2,282],' Xinhua reported.
The family struggled to make a living. In 2006, Tang had to sell his apartment for 200,000 yuan, local police said. But the money was quickly spent by his son. Tang left Hangzhou on August 1, telling his son that he was going to find a business and that he would not return unless it was successful, Xinhua said. Tang, who leaped 40 metres to his death, had no criminal record.
President Hu Jintao expressed his condolences yesterday to the relatives of the American couple stabbed at the Drum Tower, promising a thorough investigation.
