2 Killed, 9 Hurt in Horror Meat Cleaver Attack at Chinese Walmart

Two people have been hacked to death, and nine others injured by a knife-wielding assailant in a Walmart in Shenzhen, China.

According to police, a 30-year-old man, identified only by his surname, Jiang, has been arrested for the attack, in which the assailant began stabbing customers and staff inside the Walmart, using a meat cleaver.

The motive for the attack is still unclear. According to his family, Jiang is mentally ill, and they lost contact with him back in 2015.

Firearms are difficult to come by for ordinary Chinese due to strict government gun control, and so large-scale attacks tend to be carried out using knives, or home-made explosives. While violent crime is rare in China compared to other countries, recent high-profile attacks have led to stricter regulations around the sale of knives.

Just this year, a number of horrific attacks have been carried out, targeting children. In January 11 children were injured when an attacker with a knife entered their kindergarten, and in June a makeshift explosive was set off at a nursery, killing eight and wounding 66.

The perpetrators of these attacks, like Jiang, have all been described as being mentally ill, or bearing grudges against society. According to experts, China lacks the resources to properly diagnose and treat these conditions, with few trained professionals, high stigma, and less than 6% of those suffering from mental illness seeking treatment.