Shenzhen stabbing: Boy’s killing in China sparks Japanese fears

As Shenzhen reels from the killing, more details have emerged from various news reports and official sources.

The incident happened at around 08:00 local time (00:00 GMT) on Wednesday outside the boy’s school, the Shenzhen Japanese School.

The boy – who Chinese police named only as Shen – was stabbed in the abdomen. He later died from his injuries in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The assailant, a 44-year-old man surnamed Zhong, was arrested on the spot.

He had a criminal record, having been arrested for “damaging public infrastructure” in 2015 and “interfering with public order” in 2019, according to state-controlled media in Shenzhen.

An eyewitness said the suspect did not attempt to conceal his face when carrying out the attack.

“He didn’t run away, but just stood there and was apprehended by the local police guarding the school,” the witness told Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

Chinese authorities have not revealed the exact motive, but have repeatedly called the stabbing an “isolated incident”, as they did for two previous incidents this year.

In June, a man targeted a Japanese mother and her child in the eastern city of Suzhou. That attack was also near a Japanese school and led to the death of a Chinese national who had tried to protect the mother and son.

It prompted the Japanese government to request about $2.5m (£1.9m) to hire security guards for school buses in China.

Earlier in June, four American teachers were stabbed in the northern city of Jilin.