Firearms are strictly controlled in the People’s Republic of China, which means, of course, that private citizens aren’t allowed to own guns. So when a 26-year-old in a southwest China village decided to kill his parents, then murder 17 of his neighbors while trying to hide the crime, there were no residents who could stop him.
According to the China’s Xinhua News Agency, Yang Qingpei fought with his parents over money last Wednesday evening, eventually killing them both. Then, incomprehensibly, he murdered 17 other residents in the village of Yema in a panic that they would identify him as the killer.
It’s been many years since a mass murder this deadly was reported in China, where public attacks are commonly triggered by family bitterness or Chinese society in general. The news agency did not reveal how the villagers died, but mass killings in China frequently involve poison, arson, knives or homemade explosive devices.
