A 17-year-old student stabbed six schoolmates in his school campus in Maoming city of south China's Guangdong Province, leaving two dead and four injured, police said on Thursday.
Wu Jianguo, a second grade student at the No 3 Middle School of Dianbai County in Maoming City, attacked six students, all from the second grade of the same school, on Tuesday evening with a knife at 8.30 pm (local time) on a staircase landing before fleeing.
One student died at the scene and another succumbed to his injuries in hospital. The injured, one of whom had his left kidney removed, are reportedly in a stable condition at the county hospital, Xinhua news agency reported.
Shortly after local police announced a reward of 30,000 yuan (about $3,750) for Wu's arrest, the teenager, accompanied by his parents, surrendered to the police on Wednesday evening.
Neither the police nor Wu's parents provided a reason for his actions but a local villager, on condition of anonymity, said that one of the students stabbed had asked Wu for a "protection fee" on the same day the incident took place.
But, the villager claimed, Wu refused to pay as he said he had already paid for the whole year. The source said that Wu had turned to his teacher for help but the teacher did not take any action.
"My son seldom went out with his schoolmates and he has never invited anyone from his school to our home. My son wouldn't kill people for no reason," Wu's father said.
{{/usCountry}}"My son seldom went out with his schoolmates and he has never invited anyone from his school to our home. My son wouldn't kill people for no reason," Wu's father said.
{{/usCountry}}The issue of "protection fees" - in which students are blackmailed into paying money so they are not subjected to physical violence - has been widely reported in the Chinese media in recent years.