Six people were killed in a knife attack at a preschool in China’s southern Guangdong Province on Monday.
The attack occurred around 7:40 a.m., according to a statement from the local police in Lianjiang, a city of less than 2 million about 300 miles west of Shenzhen. A 25-year-old local man surnamed Wu was arrested. No potential motive was given.
A statement from the police did not give information about the victims, but state media reports said that residents had seen one child and two adults lying on the ground near the preschool’s entrance. In addition to the six dead, one person was injured.
Knife attacks are not uncommon in China, where guns are tightly controlled and shootings exceedingly rare. And many stabbing rampages have targeted schools. Last August, an assailant killed three people and wounded six others at a kindergarten in Jiangxi Province in China’s southeast. In 2021, two people died and 16 were injured in an attack at a kindergarten in the southwestern region of Guangxi.
A literal police state can’t stop violence. Maybe it is about people, not the objects they use. Go figure.