Shanghai, China: The Chinese police have arrested the suspect, identified only by his surname Lin, during a stabbing rampage at Shanghai Walmart. 3 people were killed and 15 others injured after a man went on a stabbing spree inside a Walmart supermarket in Shanghai late at night.
A 37-year-old Lin came to Shanghai intending to “vent his anger due to a personal economic dispute.” The aggression occurred in a shopping mall in the densely populated district of Songjiang, located in the southwest of the city and home to several universities. Despite the swift response of law enforcement, three of the victims succumbed to their injuries in the hospital. The other 15 injured are not supposed to be in life-threatening condition.
An eyewitness, surnamed Shi, who runs a jewellery store in the Ludu International Commercial Plaza where the attack took place, described the chaotic scene. Shi commented that, “There was blood everywhere. No one had ever experienced something like this, and we weren’t mentally prepared for it.”
Dozens of firefighters and SWAT officers reached the scene, advising people to evacuate the mall. The supermarket reopened the next day with heightened security, but discussions about the incident have been censored on Chinese social media platforms.
Although firearms are banned in China, the country has witnessed a series of knife attacks in recent months. Just last month, a 10-year-old Japanese student was fatally stabbed near his school in southern China. In June, four U.S. college instructors were stabbed in a park in Jilin, and in May, a man killed two people and wounded 21 others at a hospital in Yunnan province.
This latest incident has shaken the community, raising concerns about public security and mental health support in the country.