Mass knife killings in public in China

South China Morning Post, August 26, 2013:

A brutal stabbing incident occurred in Chengdu over the weekend, leaving 11 people injured and four dead. 

The incident occurred on Sunday evening along Chengdu’s Caojia Alley,Sichuan Daily reported. According to surveillance videos and police investigations, the stabber, a 41-year-old man identified only by his last named Li, was on a bus when he suddenly withdrew a knife and began hacking away at fellow passengers. 

The bus driver promptly hit the emergency brake to let passengers exit the vehicle as quickly as possible. Li fled and ran down Caojia Alley, stabbing any bystanders that were in his way. . . .

South China Morning Post, August 22, 2013:

Two Anhui police officers - called in to save a hostage from a knife-wielding man in a Bengbu city supermarket - watched him stab a 17-year-old female cashier to death on Sunday, according to security footage released by the store. 

Families of the victim, identified only by their surname Hu, were infuriated that two police officers, who were standing only three metres away from Hu, did nothing when the girl was being stabbed. 

It was only after Hu fell down to the ground, lifeless, that the officers approached and arrested the suspect who was slashing himself with a knife, according to the People's Daily. 

“She would not have died if the two of them had stepped up and stopped him,” a family member of Hu's said. Hu’s parents were migrant workers. She had been living with her grandmother in Bangbu, the reports said. . . .

South China Morning Post, July 19, 2013 

A knife-wielding man killed two people, including a woman from the United States, in an attack in China’s capital, state media said on Thursday. 

The stabbing happened outside a shopping mall in downtown Beijing on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported, citing local police. 

Police detained a 27-year-old man surnamed Xiao from eastern China following the attack, which was witnessed by hundreds of bystanders, the report said. 

The suspect is unemployed and has claimed he is mentally ill, the report said. It did not give the names of the dead but said the other victim was a Chinese male. . . .

Thanks to Victor Mair for these links.