At least 3 killed in Lunar New Year attack in China

BEIJING, China – A nursing home worker in central China went on a rampage early February 19, state media reported, killing three people and leaving another 15 injured at the care facility.

The attack took place in the early hours of the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year in Yongfeng township in Hunan province, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing local authorities.

The incident occurred after what Xinhua described as a “brawl” between the alleged attacker, identified as 64-year-old Luo Renchu, and Fang Hongchun, the 48-year-old nursing home owner.

Luo “randomly attacked elderly people and staff at the nursing home” following an altercation with Fang, the report said.

Luo is now on the run and being pursued by police, Xinhua reported.

It did not say what kind of weapon, if any, was used by the assailant and did not provide details on the victims’ injuries.

In July 2013, Xinhua reported that 11 nursing home patients in northeastern China burned to death after one of them set the facility on fire in a row over money.

Social tensions have been mounting in China in recent years against a backdrop of a widening income gap and abuses of public power, with disputes even over trifling issues sometimes triggering serious incidents.

China has also been hit by a wave of attacks at schools in recent years.

They include five incidents in 2010 that killed 17 people – 15 of them children – and wounded more than 80.

In March 2013 a man killed two relatives and then slashed 11 people, including six children, outside a school in China’s commercial hub Shanghai. – Rappler.com