14 DAY TRIAL // 22 children and an elderly woman were stabbed outside an elementary school in China, reports say. The incident occurred as students were coming to school, and before classes started.
Before 8 a.m. on Friday, December 14, a man pulled a knife in front of the school in the village of Chengping, in Henan province.
36-year-old resident Min Yingjun was charged, and is currently in police custody. The older victim, who remains unnamed, was the first one to be attacked, Daily Mail writes.
He was noticed by security guards, who intervened and subdued him. Most Chinese schools and kindergartens are currently protected by security officers, following a string of attacks on students and teachers, spreading over the past years.
It is not clear why he then turned to the students, aged between 6 and 11. The victims of the attack had to be transported to the hospital, and the Guangshan county hospital administrator tells reporters that none of their wounds were fatal.
However, 9 had to be admitted for further observation and two were transferred to better-equipped hospitals, for they had more severe wounds.
Police are yet to come across the motivation for the seemingly random stabbing, and a task force is investigating the case.
China is not the only place where children do not feel same in a school environment anymore. Yesterday, a young man, identified as 20-year-old Adam Lanza, walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut, and opened fire.
27 people were killed, 20 of whom were children, in one of the biggest tragedies to hit America this year. The gunman committed suicide after the fact, as was the case in last week's Oregon mall shooting, or in the case of Kansas City's Jovan Belcher.
The disturbed man's brother, Ryan Lanza, was originally charged with the crime, because the shooter was carrying his ID card with him.