SwordoftheVistula
05-13-2010, 09:13 PM
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64B0HS20100512
Seven children and the owners of a kindergarten were hacked to death in northwest China on Wednesday, the latest in a string of assaults on schools that has stoked public alarm about the government's grip on order.
Eleven children were wounded in the attack soon after the school day started in Nanzheng county, a rural corner of Shaanxi province, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Two children were in serious condition.
A 48-year-old man, Wu Huanming, used a kitchen cleaver to kill five boys and two girls as well as the mother-son team who owned and ran the private kindergarten, Xinhua said.
Wu then returned home and committed suicide, Xinhua said, citing a statement from the province emergency office. "His motive for the attack was not immediately known," it said.
One local man, Zheng Xiulan, said the attacker had rented out the rooms for the privately run kindergarten, located in a row of low houses with concrete yards.
"Only about two of the children in the kindergarten were not injured, but I don't know how many died in the end. There was blood everywhere", Zheng told Reuters by telephone.
"I don't know why he did it ... I hadn't heard that he was mentally ill. He wasn't poor either."
Officials in Nanzheng would not comment on the attack.
The rampage is sure to stoke public disquiet and demands for stricter school security after five attacks on school children in recent weeks.
"WE'RE SCARED"
Even before the latest bloodshed, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao had demanded action and the top law-and-order official, Zhou Yongkang, told officials to beef up school security. Police vowed to identify disturbed people who could pose a threat to children.
"Of course, we're scared," said a resident of a village several kilometers from the kindergarten where the latest attack happened. She gave only her surname, Li.
"We've all heard about it. I also have grandchildren, but they're already at primary school," Li said by telephone. "But everybody has to wonder why there are people who can do this."
The deaths of children strike an especially deep chord in a country where most urban families are allowed to have only one child, said Yang Dongping, an expert on education at the Beijing Institute of Technology.
"I personally feel that media reports about these attacks have helped to create a copy-cat effect," Yang told Reuters. "People who are mentally unstable or who nurse hatred toward society then feel that this is a way of exacting revenge, or of making their demands."
While state media gave terse accounts of the killings, Internet comment reflected anger over the attacks, which have jarred with the government's relentless focus on security.
"If security for the Beijing Olympics and Shanghai Expo can achieve a spotless record, why can't school safety achieve a near spotless one?" said a commentator on the popular Sina.com website. "The safety of leaders is important, but so is protecting the lives of children."
In five school attacks since March, 18 people were murdered -- all but three of them children -- and more than 80 were injured. China bans nearly all citizens from owning handguns, and the attackers used knives, cleavers and, in one case, a hammer.
Yang said the latest attack would drive parents to demand even stricter security.
"But it would be unrealistic to mobilize all the police around schools," he said.
"The real issues may be how the media report these incidents, as well as the broader social environment," Yang said.
Meanwhile, another mass stabbing in California. Most citizens are prohibited from carrying firearms, but off-duty police officers are, even when not on the job and just out & about as ordinary citizens, and luckily one happened to be around and put a stop to the spree:
http://cbs4.com/national/Target.stabbing.spree.2.1672681.html
A Bay Area woman who stabbed and wounded four people in a busy Southern California Target store on Monday afternoon was arrested when an off-duty sheriff's deputy pulled his gun and ordered the woman to the ground as screaming shoppers ran from the building, authorities said.
The deputy said he pursued Layla Rosetta Trawick, of Antioch, who was wielding two large knives through a West Hollywood Target store, before he arrested her on suspicion of attempted murder. She was being held on $1 million bail.
The 34-year-old Trawick started randomly stabbing people with two blades - a butcher's knife and a carving knife - about 12:45 p.m., according to witnesses.
"She was literally walking up and down the aisles slashing people," explained Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore, who said Trawick was using both blades at the same time - one in each hand, like in the movie "Psycho."
While off-duty sheriff's Deputy Clay Grant Jr. was picking up paper towels and other items in the store, he said he saw Trawick, grabbed his duty weapon and ordered her to drop the knives; she then ran away and he chased her through the store.
Grant - wearing a white T-shirt, camouflage shorts and running shoes - said he followed Trawick from aisle to aisle, until she turned and waved the knives at him from above her head.
But he decided not to shoot because he didn't feel his life was in jeopardy, he said. For a second time, he ordered her to drop the knives and finally she complied.
"I was more concerned about the knife, more than what she was saying," Grant said. "Her facial expression was someone who was lost, confused, didn't know exactly where they were."
Shopper Katy Winn, who was browsing the store's selection of Mother's Day cards, said Trawick was screaming, "There is no witness protection program!" as chaos broke out in the store.
"I don't know what it means but she was yelling that repeatedly and at the top of her lungs," Winn said. "I think I heard (the deputy) telling her to drop to the floor. That's when things got really chaotic and started falling over."
Winn dropped her basket and dashed across the store to the women's section, where she hid behind the clothing racks.
"From the moment the screaming started it was about five minutes. But it felt longer than that," she said. "There were lots of women and children trying to get out of the store as soon as possible."
Officials applauded the actions of Grant, who is a five-year veteran of the sheriff's department.
"There's a bunch of screaming going on. He orders her to the ground, she complies," sheriff's Sgt. Josh Mankini explained. "If he wasn't there, who knows? Someone would be dead right now."
"He had no communication with outside law enforcement. He's just some guy doing his shopping. We're pretty proud of him," Mankini continued.
But speaking to reporters at a sheriff's station later, Grant was modest.
"I don't feel like I'm a hero, I just do what I'm trained to do," he said.
Three women and a man were stabbed in the attack and taken to area hospitals, authorities said. Among the victims was a mother holding her baby who was stabbed in the neck and shoulder; she was listed in critical condition.
The baby was unhurt and all four injured victims were expected to survive, according to deputies and firefighters.
Investigators were trying to determine whether Trawick got the knives for the attack in the store. Surveillance video cameras captured the stabbings, but the tape hadn't been released by authorities.
Officials indicated that Grant was authorized to have a weapon in the store.
"Police officers can carry guns anywhere in the U.S.," Mankini said. "I carry my gun everywhere. Most police officers carry a firearm all the time. We see a lot bad guys at work."
Added Winn, "I'm thanking my lucky stars for that deputy. Without him who knows how many people would have been hurt."
It was not immediately known why Trawick was in Southern California.
Prior to Antioch, Trawick had apparently lived in Berkeley. Some neighbors there described her as a troubled woman who often kept to herself. They said she had worked as a stripper and experienced past problems with drugs and alcohol.
"I'm sorry to hear that she snapped," said ex-neighbor Mike Rinta after hearing of her arrest following the stabbing incident.
Seven children and the owners of a kindergarten were hacked to death in northwest China on Wednesday, the latest in a string of assaults on schools that has stoked public alarm about the government's grip on order.
Eleven children were wounded in the attack soon after the school day started in Nanzheng county, a rural corner of Shaanxi province, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Two children were in serious condition.
A 48-year-old man, Wu Huanming, used a kitchen cleaver to kill five boys and two girls as well as the mother-son team who owned and ran the private kindergarten, Xinhua said.
Wu then returned home and committed suicide, Xinhua said, citing a statement from the province emergency office. "His motive for the attack was not immediately known," it said.
One local man, Zheng Xiulan, said the attacker had rented out the rooms for the privately run kindergarten, located in a row of low houses with concrete yards.
"Only about two of the children in the kindergarten were not injured, but I don't know how many died in the end. There was blood everywhere", Zheng told Reuters by telephone.
"I don't know why he did it ... I hadn't heard that he was mentally ill. He wasn't poor either."
Officials in Nanzheng would not comment on the attack.
The rampage is sure to stoke public disquiet and demands for stricter school security after five attacks on school children in recent weeks.
"WE'RE SCARED"
Even before the latest bloodshed, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao had demanded action and the top law-and-order official, Zhou Yongkang, told officials to beef up school security. Police vowed to identify disturbed people who could pose a threat to children.
"Of course, we're scared," said a resident of a village several kilometers from the kindergarten where the latest attack happened. She gave only her surname, Li.
"We've all heard about it. I also have grandchildren, but they're already at primary school," Li said by telephone. "But everybody has to wonder why there are people who can do this."
The deaths of children strike an especially deep chord in a country where most urban families are allowed to have only one child, said Yang Dongping, an expert on education at the Beijing Institute of Technology.
"I personally feel that media reports about these attacks have helped to create a copy-cat effect," Yang told Reuters. "People who are mentally unstable or who nurse hatred toward society then feel that this is a way of exacting revenge, or of making their demands."
While state media gave terse accounts of the killings, Internet comment reflected anger over the attacks, which have jarred with the government's relentless focus on security.
"If security for the Beijing Olympics and Shanghai Expo can achieve a spotless record, why can't school safety achieve a near spotless one?" said a commentator on the popular Sina.com website. "The safety of leaders is important, but so is protecting the lives of children."
In five school attacks since March, 18 people were murdered -- all but three of them children -- and more than 80 were injured. China bans nearly all citizens from owning handguns, and the attackers used knives, cleavers and, in one case, a hammer.
Yang said the latest attack would drive parents to demand even stricter security.
"But it would be unrealistic to mobilize all the police around schools," he said.
"The real issues may be how the media report these incidents, as well as the broader social environment," Yang said.
Meanwhile, another mass stabbing in California. Most citizens are prohibited from carrying firearms, but off-duty police officers are, even when not on the job and just out & about as ordinary citizens, and luckily one happened to be around and put a stop to the spree:
http://cbs4.com/national/Target.stabbing.spree.2.1672681.html
A Bay Area woman who stabbed and wounded four people in a busy Southern California Target store on Monday afternoon was arrested when an off-duty sheriff's deputy pulled his gun and ordered the woman to the ground as screaming shoppers ran from the building, authorities said.
The deputy said he pursued Layla Rosetta Trawick, of Antioch, who was wielding two large knives through a West Hollywood Target store, before he arrested her on suspicion of attempted murder. She was being held on $1 million bail.
The 34-year-old Trawick started randomly stabbing people with two blades - a butcher's knife and a carving knife - about 12:45 p.m., according to witnesses.
"She was literally walking up and down the aisles slashing people," explained Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore, who said Trawick was using both blades at the same time - one in each hand, like in the movie "Psycho."
While off-duty sheriff's Deputy Clay Grant Jr. was picking up paper towels and other items in the store, he said he saw Trawick, grabbed his duty weapon and ordered her to drop the knives; she then ran away and he chased her through the store.
Grant - wearing a white T-shirt, camouflage shorts and running shoes - said he followed Trawick from aisle to aisle, until she turned and waved the knives at him from above her head.
But he decided not to shoot because he didn't feel his life was in jeopardy, he said. For a second time, he ordered her to drop the knives and finally she complied.
"I was more concerned about the knife, more than what she was saying," Grant said. "Her facial expression was someone who was lost, confused, didn't know exactly where they were."
Shopper Katy Winn, who was browsing the store's selection of Mother's Day cards, said Trawick was screaming, "There is no witness protection program!" as chaos broke out in the store.
"I don't know what it means but she was yelling that repeatedly and at the top of her lungs," Winn said. "I think I heard (the deputy) telling her to drop to the floor. That's when things got really chaotic and started falling over."
Winn dropped her basket and dashed across the store to the women's section, where she hid behind the clothing racks.
"From the moment the screaming started it was about five minutes. But it felt longer than that," she said. "There were lots of women and children trying to get out of the store as soon as possible."
Officials applauded the actions of Grant, who is a five-year veteran of the sheriff's department.
"There's a bunch of screaming going on. He orders her to the ground, she complies," sheriff's Sgt. Josh Mankini explained. "If he wasn't there, who knows? Someone would be dead right now."
"He had no communication with outside law enforcement. He's just some guy doing his shopping. We're pretty proud of him," Mankini continued.
But speaking to reporters at a sheriff's station later, Grant was modest.
"I don't feel like I'm a hero, I just do what I'm trained to do," he said.
Three women and a man were stabbed in the attack and taken to area hospitals, authorities said. Among the victims was a mother holding her baby who was stabbed in the neck and shoulder; she was listed in critical condition.
The baby was unhurt and all four injured victims were expected to survive, according to deputies and firefighters.
Investigators were trying to determine whether Trawick got the knives for the attack in the store. Surveillance video cameras captured the stabbings, but the tape hadn't been released by authorities.
Officials indicated that Grant was authorized to have a weapon in the store.
"Police officers can carry guns anywhere in the U.S.," Mankini said. "I carry my gun everywhere. Most police officers carry a firearm all the time. We see a lot bad guys at work."
Added Winn, "I'm thanking my lucky stars for that deputy. Without him who knows how many people would have been hurt."
It was not immediately known why Trawick was in Southern California.
Prior to Antioch, Trawick had apparently lived in Berkeley. Some neighbors there described her as a troubled woman who often kept to herself. They said she had worked as a stripper and experienced past problems with drugs and alcohol.
"I'm sorry to hear that she snapped," said ex-neighbor Mike Rinta after hearing of her arrest following the stabbing incident.