Knife-wielding man kills 4, expert calls for psychological services

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Knife-wielding man kills 4, expert calls for psychological services

(Xinhua) 17:14, August 26, 2013

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Four people have been killed and 11 others were injured when a knife-wielding man hacked passengers on a bus on Sunday night in southwest China's Sichuan Province, local police said.

The bus camera shows that the suspect suddenly took out a knife at 9:16 p.m. and started to stab the passengers on the No. 42 bus running through the downtown Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan, the city's public security office told Xinhua on Monday.

The man, surnamed Li, got off the bus soon and continued attacking people on the street before police opened fire and subdued him.

China Central Television (CCTV) said earlier a 10-year-old girl was severely wounded.

According to Chengdu police's initial investigation, the 41-year-old suspect is from Jintang County to the northeast of Chengdu City. He told police that he has worked as migrant worker elsewhere and has financial disputes with his family members.

Li left Xichang City in Sichuan Province last Thursday, went home in Jintang on Saturday, and arrived in Chengdu on Sunday noon, said the police.

Within a two-week period, the country has witnessed several similar incidents in which suspects have attacked innocent passers-by.

On Aug. 19, a knife-wielding man surnamed Zhou killed three and injured 12 in central China's Henan Province, including a ten-month-old baby and a ten-year-old boy.

In a separate case on Aug. 16 in Wuhan City, capital of central China's Hubei Province, a man with a knife injured five people and committed suicide by jumping off the fifth floor of a shopping-mall.

The Ministry of Public Security vowed all-out efforts to ensure public safety on July 25.

Chinese police said in a statement issued after a national teleconference on tackling public order offenses that violent crimes will be "resolutely punished."

The police will always "maintain high vigilance against terrorism, violent crimes and crimes involving guns or explosives, deal with problems affecting social stability and those complained most about by people, and eliminate various safety risks," said the statement.

Some experts blamed the hot weather for the incidents.

However, Liu Banghui, former head of the research institute on criminal psychology under the Beijing-based China University of Politic Science and Law (CUPSL) is cautious about the weather theory.

"It's true that we will consider connections between the crimes and the time, but the motive varies for each case, and that matters more. After all, people usually won't take such extreme action to release their emotions," she told Xinhua.

Lin Bingxian, a researcher with the university, believed a psychological crisis triggered by rapid social change is the main reason behind the attacks.

"Nowadays, people feel great pressure over change in the society, like mounting housing prices, for instance," said Lin.

"Meanwhile, as unbalanced economical development widens the income gap in China, people are prone to be frustrated and feel everything is unfair, which is then easy for them to initiate violence," he said.

Lin said China should make mental health knowledge among citizens, especially juveniles, more accessible.

"If China cannot reach the standards of having one psychiatric consultant among 1,000 people like developed countries do, we should at least have one consultant among every 10,000 citizens," he said.

He also suggested consultants work in communities to help residents overcome psychological problems.

"What's more, sociologists and psychologists should be able to participate in policy making in order to make sure the policy protects citizens' mental health," he said.