HANZHONG, CHINA—A Chinese man who hacked to death seven kindergarten students as young as 3-years-old
had argued with the school's manager over the property's lease, neighbours said Thursday, offering a possible motive behind the latest in a string of bloody rampages in the nation's schools.
Over a rent dispute!?
Neighbours said Wu Huanming had leased his house to teacher and school administrator Wu Hongying for the kindergarten, but there was a dispute over the rent. He then demanded the property back, but Wu Hongying asked to hold onto it until the children's summer vacation.
"This kid was very honest and didn't talk much. He had a very soft and gentle personality and didn't have mental problems that we knew of," said Zhen, who claimed to have known Wu his entire life.
"None of us would ever have imagined he would do something so terrible," Zhen said.
She said Wu had two children as well as two younger brothers.
"The perpetrators have contracted a 'social psychological infectious disease' that shows itself in a desire to take revenge on society," said Zhou Xiaozheng of Beijing's Renmin University.
"They pick children as targets because they are the weakest and most vulnerable," Zhou said