6 sacked in attack aftermath
Source: Xinhua |
December 19, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SIX people have been sacked over their "improper handling" of a knife attack at a school in a central China county amid public discontent over a perceived cover-up of the incident.
Two school principals, two police officers, a township safety official and a county education department director have been removed from their posts during an investigation into the incident, a Xinyang city official said yesterday. The county is under the jurisdiction of Xinyang.
Twenty-three elementary school students and an elderly woman were injured when a man wielding a knife went on a rampage at a village school in Guangshan County last Friday. The suspect, Min Yongjun, was apprehended by teachers and police at the scene.
The six sackings came after media criticism of the local authority's perceived irresponsible and indifferent attitude toward the tragedy.
Soon after the incident, the county government had declined media interviews and obstructed reporters from interviewing at the school and hospitals treating the injured.
Also yesterday, police issued a more detailed account of how Min had been driven by "doomsday" rumors to carry out the attack.
Ouyang Mingxing, deputy director of the Guangshan County Bureau of Public Security, said Min told police he believed "he was doomed and hoped to do things to impress the world of his existence before he died."
Min told them he had seen reports of a kindergarten killing on television two years ago and saw that it could cause a stir.
Ouyang said Min had beaten his parents and his two daughters, aged nine and two, and ran out of the house the night before the stabbing spree. He said he was angry because his father had kept him at home for several days after he had an epileptic seizure.
He said he wandered around in the cold and dark, feeling like he had been "abandoned by the world." At dawn, exhausted, he knocked on the door of an elderly woman's house.
He broke into the house, and used a kitchen knife to slash the woman twice, before storming into the nearby Chenpeng Village Elementary School at around 7am.
The school opens at 7am, but teachers usually arrive at 7:50am.
According to a surveillance tape, no security staff or teachers appeared to stop him while Min hacked his way to the third floor of the building.
Ouyang said Min had intended to throw a child out of a window on the third floor but gave up on the idea after he saw the children covered in blood and thought of his own daughters.
Min told police he had been told about "doomsday" by a local woman called Jin Guozhu. Jin is on the run and police have seized more than 70 "doomsday" brochures at her house.
Police said the 61-year-old was spreading rumors that the world would end and that "certain divinity spirits will rule the earth afterward."
A government-sponsored donation scheme helped raise 50,000 yuan (US$8,020) for victims' families by Monday.
The government has also ensured that local schools have added security manpower, with guards armed with metal batons and tear-gas.
Two school principals, two police officers, a township safety official and a county education department director have been removed from their posts during an investigation into the incident, a Xinyang city official said yesterday. The county is under the jurisdiction of Xinyang.
Twenty-three elementary school students and an elderly woman were injured when a man wielding a knife went on a rampage at a village school in Guangshan County last Friday. The suspect, Min Yongjun, was apprehended by teachers and police at the scene.
The six sackings came after media criticism of the local authority's perceived irresponsible and indifferent attitude toward the tragedy.
Soon after the incident, the county government had declined media interviews and obstructed reporters from interviewing at the school and hospitals treating the injured.
Also yesterday, police issued a more detailed account of how Min had been driven by "doomsday" rumors to carry out the attack.
Ouyang Mingxing, deputy director of the Guangshan County Bureau of Public Security, said Min told police he believed "he was doomed and hoped to do things to impress the world of his existence before he died."
Min told them he had seen reports of a kindergarten killing on television two years ago and saw that it could cause a stir.
Ouyang said Min had beaten his parents and his two daughters, aged nine and two, and ran out of the house the night before the stabbing spree. He said he was angry because his father had kept him at home for several days after he had an epileptic seizure.
He said he wandered around in the cold and dark, feeling like he had been "abandoned by the world." At dawn, exhausted, he knocked on the door of an elderly woman's house.
He broke into the house, and used a kitchen knife to slash the woman twice, before storming into the nearby Chenpeng Village Elementary School at around 7am.
The school opens at 7am, but teachers usually arrive at 7:50am.
According to a surveillance tape, no security staff or teachers appeared to stop him while Min hacked his way to the third floor of the building.
Ouyang said Min had intended to throw a child out of a window on the third floor but gave up on the idea after he saw the children covered in blood and thought of his own daughters.
Min told police he had been told about "doomsday" by a local woman called Jin Guozhu. Jin is on the run and police have seized more than 70 "doomsday" brochures at her house.
Police said the 61-year-old was spreading rumors that the world would end and that "certain divinity spirits will rule the earth afterward."
A government-sponsored donation scheme helped raise 50,000 yuan (US$8,020) for victims' families by Monday.
The government has also ensured that local schools have added security manpower, with guards armed with metal batons and tear-gas.
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