Chinese teen held over alleged double murder and attacks on mother, classmate and teachers
- The 16-year-old is accused of killing two neighbours and seriously wounding his mother and a teacher
- A classmate and another teacher were also wounded in a series of violent incidents, police say
Police in Beijing have detained a 16-year-old boy suspected of killing two people and wounding another four, including his mother.
The Tongzhou district public security bureau accused the high school student, identified only by his surname Zhang, of murdering a couple living next door – a 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman – on Sunday evening.
On Monday morning, Zhang allegedly beat his mother, leaving her in a coma. Her condition remains unknown.
Soon after, Zhang went to school and allegedly beat a female classmate before wounding two teachers who tried to intervene, according to the police.
Police did not say how Zhang allegedly inflicted harm.
State-run China News Service reported that he used “objects” and a “weapon” in the attack.
One of the teachers required emergency treatment and remains in intensive care. The other teacher and the classmate were discharged from hospital on Tuesday, CNS reported.
Zhang was detained at the school and taken into police custody.
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The case generated widespread comment online about juvenile violence in China.
From 2018 to 2022, 179,000 minors were prosecuted for serious criminal offences, accounting for more than half of the 327,000 criminal cases involving minors during that period, state news agency Xinhua reported in March.
In 2020, a 13-year-old boy in Anhui province killed a 10-year-old girl and dumped her body in bushland. And in 2019, a 13-year-old in Liaoning province killed a girl after an attempted sexual assault, according to mainland media reports.
Jessie Tan, a University of Chicago-trained college counsellor, said the causes of juvenile crime were a complex mix of social, community and cultural factors.
Impulse crimes were also more common during adolescence, when hormones fluctuated and emotional regulation skills had not yet matured.
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In a report in 2020, the World Health Organization said the risk factors of youth violence came from multiple levels, including wider society, community, close relationships, and individual levels, such as experience of failure in school.
Tan said schools were the main places adolescents lived and learned, and could “strive to provide more comprehensive psychological support for students”.
“They can identify potential risk factors as early as possible and take proactive measures to intervene,” she said.
She added: “Over the past three years, many students have had to complete their studies at home through online classes, which undeniably poses a significant challenge to their mental health.”
Wang Keke, criminal defence lawyer from Beijing W&H law firm, said minors over the age of 16 had reached the age of criminal responsibility.
But under Chinese law, people below 18 could be given special consideration, including in sentencing.
