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Zhuang Pinghui

A farmer with a history of mental  illness killed two children and four adults with an axe yesterday  in Gongyi, Henan.
One child and three of the adults died at the scene. The others died later in hospital. The children were girls aged one and four, according to an online statement from the city government.
The tragedy occurred at around 8.40am. The killer, identified by Gongyi police as Wang Hongbin, a 30-year-old farmer in Dongan village of Shecun township, was detained by 9am. 
Witnesses told Dahe.cn, a Henan news portal, that the man attacked and killed the six people on a street, and the bodies were within a 200-metre radius.  Wang's first two victims were 24-year-old Yu Yingying  and her 19-month-old daughter. 
Yu had been taking her daughter to a clinic on her father-in-law's motorcycle, and she and her daughter were attacked while the father-in-law parked the motorcycle.
A township official, Cao Lijian, told Dahe.cn that he heard someone screaming, 'Call police! Someone has killed people!' Cao looked out the window to see a young man wielding an axe.
Cao and a colleague grabbed two mops and rushed to help.
The man dropped the axe and raised his hands in surrender when police arrived. 
Witnesses said the man appeared to be attacking pedestrians at random. 
Police said that the man's medical records indicated that he suffered from schizophrenia. Witness told Dahe.cn that Wang was mentally ill and argued often with his family. Another witness said he always picked on children on the street. 
Li Xiaoqin, a local farmer, told Xinhua that he often saw Wang around the neighbourhood. 
'He looked normal, although people heard that he had some kind of mental illness,' Li said. 'It was raining in the morning, and there were not many people on the street. Otherwise, more people could have been killed during the attack.'
The incident is the latest in a series of violent attacks involving children that have forced authorities to increase security around the mainland's schools and kindergartens.
Last month, eight pupils were hurt when a staff member at a day care centre for migrant workers' children in Shanghai went on a stabbing spree.
The worker used a box cutter to slash at children aged three and four. She is also believed to have suffered from mental health problems.
Last year, at least five major attacks took place at schools on the mainland, killing 17 people - including 15 children - and injuring more than 80 people.
Two of the attackers were executed and two others committed suicide. The suspect in the fifth attack was sentenced to death in June 2010.



Children among 6 dead in axe attack