Wu Huanming | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers

Wu HUANMING

The Shengshui Temple Kindergarten Attack

Classification: Mass murderer

Characteristics: Kindergarten attack - Unhappy after a property dispute

Number of victims: 9

Date of murders: May 12, 2010

Date of birth: 1961

Victims profile: Five boys, two girls, the kindergarten owner, Wu Hongying, 50, and her mother, 80-year-old Su Runhua

Method of murder:

Hacked to death with a cleaver

Location: Shengshui, Shaanxi Province, China

Status: Committed suicide the same day

May 12, 2010 - Hanzhong, China – Wu Huanming – 10 Dead – 11 Injured

An assailant killed seven children and two adults and wounded 11 other children at the Shengshui Temple Kindergarten in Hanzhong when he attacked them with a cleaver. The assailant, identified as 48-year-old Wu Huanming, fled from the school and committed suicide when he returned to his house.

China children 'hacked to death' in new school attack

BBC News

May 12, 2010

Seven children and two adults have been hacked to death at a kindergarten in China, the latest in a series of school attacks, state media report.

Another 11 children were injured in the attack near Hanzhong city, Shaanxi province, Xinhua news agency reported.

The children were all thought to be under the age of six. Their attacker later killed himself.

There have been five violent school attacks in the past two months in China, leaving dozens dead or injured.

In March, a man stabbed to death eight pupils at a school in Fujian province. He was executed soon afterwards.

In the space of a week in late April, three more attacks in different parts of China left dozens of children injured.

The BBC's Michael Bristow in Beijing says media reports of the latest incident have been minimal, perhaps in an attempt to discourage the copycat attacks that many parents now fear.

Hanzhong city officials said the man entered the privately-run Shengshui Temple kindergarten at about 0800 local time (0100 BST) as the school day was beginning.

Xinhua named him as Wu Huanming, a 48-year-old local man, and said he was armed with a meat cleaver, commonly used in Chinese homes.

Five boys and two girls were reported to have died, along with the kindergarten owner, Wu Hongying, and her mother, 80-year-old Su Runhua.

A further 11 children and a teacher were injured in the attack and taken to hospital - two were in a serious condition.

Liu Xiaoming, a public official, said the attacker had killed himself shortly after returning to his home.

Xinhua reports that an initial police investigation suggested that Wu Huanming and Wu Hongying had fought over a property dispute.

Wu Hongying had rented rooms for the kindergarten from Wu Huanming, without government approval.

In April, Wu Huanming had requested the house be vacated when the lease ran out, but Wu Hongying said she would wait until the vacation in June or July, according to Xinhua.

One local man told Reuters only two of the children in the kindergarten had escaped injury.

"I don't know how many died in the end. There was blood everywhere," said Zheng Xiulan.

Pitchfork defence

Last month, the education ministry ordered all schools to upgrade their security facilities, teach students about safety and ensure that young children were escorted home.

Some local police authorities have distributed steel pitchforks and pepper spray to security guards in schools but such measures are considered expensive and their effectiveness is unproven.

China has in the past had a comparatively low rate of violent crime, meaning the recent violence has been all the more shocking.

Our correspondent says there has been much speculation on the cause of the attacks, with some blaming inadequate provision for people with mental health issues.

Others have suggested that the attacks are a form of revenge on society by individuals with no outlet for their anger in a political environment heavily controlled by the ruling Communist Party.

Some Chinese commentators have alluded to the growing gap between rich and poor, and the rapid pace of economic development and social upheaval as possible factors leading to outbreaks of violence.

But reports in official media have generally played down any wider causes for the school attacks, portraying them as isolated incidents perpetrated by disturbed individuals.

Nine killed, 11 injured in China kindergarten attack

Xinhuanet.com

May 12, 2010

XI'AN, May 12 (Xinhua) -- A 48-year-old man killed seven children and two women with a kitchen cleaver at a kindergarten in northwest China's Shaanxi Province Wednesday, and then committed suicide, say local authorities.

The deadly rampage took place at about 8 a.m. at the privately-run kindergarten in Linchang Village, Shengshui Township of Nanzheng County, when villager Wu Huanming hacked to death seven children and the kindergarten owner, 50-year-old Wu Hongying, the Shaanxi Provincial Emergency Response Office said in a statement.

Wu Hongying's mother, 80-year-old Su Runhua, who was injured in the attack, died later in hospital.

The dead children were five boys and two girls, but their ages are yet to be released.

Eleven other children were injured, two severely. They are being treated in hospital.

Wu Huanming returned home after the killings and committed suicide, the statement said.

An initial police investigation showed that Wu Huanming had been unhappy after a property dispute with Wu Hongying.

Wu Huanming had rented out his house to Wu Hongying to accommodate the kindergarten, without approval from any government departments.

Wu Huanming demanded in April that his house should be vacated when the lease expired, but Wu Hongying said she hoped to return the property in June or July, during the kindergarten vacation.

Police are still investigating the circumstances of the case.

The kindergarten has been sealed off and police officers have been deployed there.

Zhao Leji, Communist Party of China chief of Shaanxi, ordered local authorities to do all they could to save the injured and strengthen school security in the province.

About 20 children attended the kindergarten, said the Party chief of Linchang Village surnamed Lin.

TIGHTENED SECURITY

The ministries of public security and education jointly held an emergency nationwide teleconference to tell local departments to upgrade security after Wednesday's deadly attack.

Security in privately-run schools and kindergartens as well as those in remote areas and rural regions should be scrutinized, and police should conduct security sweeps in schools and other public facilities where children gathered, said a statement from the police authority.

Police forces at all levels should step up measures to deter attacks on children, it said.

State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu said at the conference that local police forces should cooperate with education authorities to more rigorously search for security risks around kindergartens and schools.

Meng asked police forces to work closely with other community security organizations for the safety of the children.

He also called for improved psychological counseling for anti-social and paranoid individuals.

Police should also talk more with the public to help resolve disputes and problems so as to reduce social conflict.

Wednesday's tragedy was the fifth such attack on children in less than two months in China. The central government had already ordered local authorities to boost school security after previous school attacks.

On May 3, Zhou Yongkang, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said security at schools and kindergartens was a "major political task."

He called for special care for "people in difficult situations" and urged local governments to prevent extreme events caused by exacerbated disputes.

Authorities in many cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Jinan, Lanzhou and Wuxi, have deployed more police and security guards near and at schools to prevent attacks.

About 500 kindergartens, primary and high schools in Beijing had hired more than 2,000 professional security guards to beef up security, He Gang, a police officer at the Beijing Public Security Bureau, said Wednesday.

Beijing, however, needed several thousands more security guards for its remaining 4,500 kindergartens, primary and high schools, He said.