Man with knife kills 6 people at kindergarten in China before being arrested, police and reports say

BEIJING (AP) — A man with a knife killed six people and wounded one Monday at a kindergarten in southeastern China, police and a news report said Monday.

A 25-year-old man was arrested following the 7:40 a.m. attack in Lianjiang, a city in Guangdong province, a police statement said. Employees who answered at the Lianjiang police headquarters declined to give more details.

A news outlet, Dafeng News, cited an unidentified witness as saying the attacker’s child had been struck earlier by the car of one of the people who was killed at the school. It said one of the people killed was a teacher at the kindergarten.

Dafeng News on its website cited video posted online that it said showed a man carrying a knife walking past the kindergarten playground. It said other video showed at least four people in a pool of blood outside the school.

Attacks on kindergartens in China are reported regularly, usually blamed on grudges or mental illness, despite increased security ordered after some 20 children were killed in 2010. In 2020, a school guard was accused of injuring 39 people with a knife.

China prohibits most gun ownership. Personal attacks usually are carried out with knives or homemade explosives.