Nanping school massacre
The Nanping school massacre occurred at Nanping City Experimental Elementary School in the city of Nanping, Fujian Province, China, in which a man used a knife to kill eight children and seriously wound five others. The incident occurred on 23 March 2010, around 7:20 am local time. It was the first incident in a string of school attacks in China. The perpetrator later confessed to the crime, telling police investigators that "life was meaningless".
Incident and casualties
The children were attacked outside the gates by a man as they were arriving for school at 7:20 am local time. The perpetrator was subdued on the scene by three adults. Of the eight fatalities, six died at the scene and the other two later in hospital. The deceased were four boys and four girls.The school, which at the time had around 2,000 students, closed for the day on 23 March before reopening the following day.
Perpetrator
Zheng Minsheng who had previously worked as a community doctor, was arrested. The Associated Press reported that, according to a Nanping city government official who refused to be named, Zheng had a history of mental health issues. Zheng later told police that he thought life was meaningless, and confessed to the crime. He was charged with intentional homicide by the province's procuratorate.At the trial, police stated that Zheng had no history of mental illness, contradicting earlier reports. Zheng said that he committed the attack after being turned down by a girl and suffering "unfair treatment" from the girl's wealthy family. He was found guilty and sentenced to death on 8 April 2010. Zheng was executed by shooting twenty days later.
Victims
The following were victims of the massacre, listed by names in English and Chinese and the grade they were in:- Ke Cuiting, grade one
- Chen Chuning, grade one
- Ouyang Yuhao, grade one
- Huang Shujie, grade one
- Peng Fei, grade two
- Chen Jiahui, grade three
- Zhou Yuxiao, grade four
- Hou Chuanjie, grade four