Yang Jiaqin

Case record

Overview

Yang Jiaqin carried a kitchen cleaver and attacked students and bystanders outside an elementary school, killing a schoolboy and an elderly woman and wounding three other children and two adults before being arrested by police. Yang Jiaqin was reported to be mentally ill and was described as having hallucinations.

Status and confinement

Yang Jiaqin was in closed psychiatric confinement April 13, 2010 in Xichang, China.

The offence

Yang Jiaqin attacked people outside an elementary school in Xizhen, China.

On the dirt path outside the primary school, Yang Jiaqin encountered three youngsters headed home from school. He hacked two primary schoolers, badly wounding both, and slit a second grader’s throat, leaving him dying on the ground. After that, Yang Jiaqin moved on and, by the time police officers caught up and subdued him, he had slashed two more people to death.

During the later attack, Yang Jiaqin:

• smashed through the wooden door of his 63-year-old neighbor, Wu Wenguang, and struck him in the head with an ax (this attack was described as occurring on April 9 the previous week before the schoolyard attack),
• slashed a first grader who fled,
• then turned on Wu Junpei, cutting Junpei’s arm and neck in quick succession,
• slashed Wu Zunwei’s shoulder after Zunwei begged him not to hurt her,
• killed a 70-year-old woman who was making firecrackers,
• killed a man who was watching a television drama on his sofa,
• and slashed the man’s wife and a girl drawing well water.

Victims

Two dead and five injured were recorded.

The killed persons included:

• the schoolboy Wu Junpei, aged 8,
• an elderly woman who was making firecrackers, described as 70 years old.

The attacked and wounded children and adults included:

• a primary schooler who was badly wounded,
• a second primary schooler who was badly wounded,
• Wu Zunwei, described as a 14-year-old cousin who was slashed,
• Wu Wenguang, described as a 63-year-old neighbor who was struck in the head with an ax,
• a man who was watching a television drama on his sofa and was killed,
• the man’s wife, who was slashed,
• and a girl drawing well water, who was slashed.

A named first grader who was slashed was identified as Wu Yuankun.

A named injured sister was described as Wu Junpei’s 20-year-old sister.

Investigation

Police officers subdued Yang Jiaqin after the schoolyard killings and wounding.

At the hospital where doctors stitched Wu Wenguang’s wound, Wu Wenguang said the local police chief told him:

“When crazy people hurt somebody, there is nothing we can do.”

In a statement, the police insisted that they had searched fruitlessly for Yang Jiaqin, then told his wife he should turn himself in.

Wu Wenguang’s father, Wu Huanglong, described police responses to his son’s attack and to earlier events.

Arrest

Police arrested and subdued Yang Jiaqin after the attacks outside the elementary school.

Background

Yang Jiaqin was identified as a 40-year-old man.

Yang Jiaqin had been reported to be mentally ill and had experienced hallucinations. He had received medical care for just one month in the previous five years.

Yang Jiaqin was a local health care worker. His wife was Wen Zhaoying.

Wen Zhaoying said that neither she nor Yang Jiaqin had medical training beyond high school and that the two dispensed care for years from a tiny clinic opposite Xizhen’s primary school.

Wen Zhaoying said that, over time, it became obvious Yang Jiaqin was the one who needed treatment. She described him as always excitable and easily frightened, and that he became obsessed with the notion that people were after him.

Relatives described an earlier episode in which Yang Jiaqin fled his house during a raging storm. Relatives found him the next day pacing near a pond, covered with scratches, shaking violently. Yang Jiaqin told her:

“People were chasing me all night.” and “It was very scary.”

He was taken to Hepu County Psychiatric Hospital after that episode.

Prior mental health encounters

Wen Zhaoying said that a psychiatrist prescribed medication that helped calm Yang Jiaqin at Hepu County Psychiatric Hospital. Still, she said his episodes grew more severe.

In 2007, Wen Zhaoying said Yang Jiaqin leaped from a third-floor window to escape imaginary pursuers and broke his leg.

In 2008, Wen Zhaoying said Yang Jiaqin fled Shenzhen, where he had become a migrant worker, and called the police from a Shanghai television tower, threatening suicide.

Doctors at a Shanghai psychiatric hospital diagnosed Yang Jiaqin with schizophrenia, administered antipsychotic drugs and, a month later, set him free. Family members said that was Yang Jiaqin’s last encounter with a mental health professional.

Wen Zhaoying said Yang Jiaqin refused doctors’ advice to return to his local psychiatric hospital. She said she went alone with a Shanghai prescription in hand, and a psychiatrist changed Yang Jiaqin’s medication without examining him. Wen Zhaoying said that, by last spring, Yang Jiaqin was afraid to leave their dim mud-clay house, and that he “All he did was stay home and cry,” quoting Wen Zhaoying.

Timeline

• April 9 — Yang Jiaqin smashed through the wooden door of his 63-year-old neighbor, Wu Wenguang, and struck him in the head with an ax; Wu Wenguang later said a local police chief told him: “When crazy people hurt somebody, there is nothing we can do.”
• Later in April (described as “That evening”) — Yang Jiaqin attacked students and bystanders outside an elementary school, killing Wu Junpei and an elderly woman and wounding multiple children and adults before being arrested.

Other details

Family and witnesses

Yang Jiaqin’s 74-year-old mother, Pei Renyuan, said that Yang Jiaqin warned he would kill himself and “take all of you with me.”

Yang Jiaqin’s younger brother was assigned to watch him.

Wu Junpei was described as a spirited 8-year-old who loved to draw, sing and practice gymnastics.

Wu Zunwei recalled:

“I fell to my knees and begged him, ‘Please don’t hurt me,’ ”

Wu Zunwei said:

“He didn’t say anything,”
and “He was crying.”

Wu Huanglong, 43, raced over on his motorcycle to find his son lying, face up, on his blood-soaked navy backpack. Wu Huanglong said:

“When I saw his eyes were staring up at me,” he said, “I thought to myself: ‘This is it. I am finished. I have lost everything.’ ”

Villagers described the hospital’s actions after Junpei’s death. Junpei’s 20-year-old sister said riot police officers descended on the hospital that night, wrapped Junpei’s corpse in a sheet and drove off with it, ignoring her screams of protest. The county government had yet to release the body, Wu Huanglong said.

Villagers said a reason for delaying release was that Wu Huanglong refused to sign a declaration that no one is to blame for his son’s death in exchange for about $19,000 in compensation.

Yang Jiaqin’s wife described earlier police actions as inadequate. She said that police found Yang Jiaqin at home that Friday night but told her the matter was best settled privately. Wen Zhaoying said:

“None of this would have happened”
if police had arrested him.

Statements from medical personnel

Dr. Chen, the psychiatric hospital’s chief doctor, said Yang Jiaqin’s rampage occurred because “he has never been under systematic care.” Dr. Chen also said Yang Jiaqin’s family “did not take his illness seriously enough.”

Dr. Chen said his own hospital sometimes released mental patients purely because families could not afford treatment. Dr. Chen said:

“The government has to invest more so that we can take care of all the patients who need treatment, regardless of whether or not the family can pay for it,”

Dr. Chen and another hospital doctor said Yang Jiaqin’s condition had stabilized and that their goal was to send him home.

The hospital’s president, Zhang Xue, denied that hospital officials would release Yang Jiaqin if Wen Zhaoying did not pay. Zhang Xue said:

“I have never heard of such a thing,”

Zhang Xue said:

“The government takes this case very seriously and is devoting resources to it,”

Wen Zhaoying said she could neither care for Yang Jiaqin nor cover the cost of continued treatment, and that hospital officials had warned that if she did not pay, Yang Jiaqin would be released to her custody.

Reported description of violence and mental health care context

The incident was described in connection with a wider shortage of mental health care and rural isolation. Yang Jiaqin was described as coming from Xizhen in Guangxi, a poor and isolated province.

Aftermath

Yang Jiaqin’s condition had stabilized and doctors aimed to send him home, but Wen Zhaoying said she could not care for him or cover continued treatment costs.

The county government had not released Wu Junpei’s body, and Wu Huanglong said this had not happened yet.

People named in connection with the case record

• Yang Jiaqin — assailant; reported mentally ill; in closed psychiatric confinement
• Wen Zhaoying — wife of Yang Jiaqin
• Wu Wenguang — 63-year-old neighbor attacked with an ax
• Wu Huanglong — second grader’s father; 43 years old
• Wu Junpei — 8-year-old schoolboy killed
• Wu Junpei’s 20-year-old sister — described as protesting at the hospital
• Wu Zunwei — 14-year-old cousin injured
• Pei Renyuan — Yang Jiaqin’s 74-year-old mother
• Yang Jiaqin’s younger brother — assigned to watch him
• Zhang Xue — hospital president
• Dr. Chen — psychiatric hospital’s chief doctor