Attacker hurts 20 children with hammer at Beijing school

A hammer-wielding man wounded 20 children in an attack at an elementary school in Beijing Tuesday with three suffering serious injuries, local authorities said. A male suspect was brought “under control” and the wounded pupils were admitted to hospital, the Xicheng district government said.

Surnamed Jia, the 49-year-old assailant was a contractor hired by the school for daily maintenance work. His contract was scheduled to terminate at the end of January and though the school was discussing another job posting for Jia, he used a hammer and attacked students to “vent his resentment”, Xicheng district mayor Wang Shaofeng said at a press conference late Tuesday. Of the 20 children injured, four suffered skull fractures that required surgery, a hospital representative told reporters.

“We will do everything possible to treat the injured children, severely punish the criminal... and take more effective measures to ensure the safety of schools,” Wang said. Violent attacks targeting schoolchildren are not uncommon in China, which has seen a slew of deadly incidents over the past few years, usually involving knives.

In April last year, a 28-year-old man killed nine middle-school students as they were returning home in one of the country’s deadliest knife attacks in recent years. The killer, who said he had been bullied when he attended the school in northern China’s Shaanxi province, was executed in September.