Beijing knife attack injures five, including three children, police say

CNN —

Five people, including three children, have been injured in a stabbing attack in Beijing, Chinese police reported Monday.

The incident occurred at around 3.20 p.m. local time (3.20 a.m. ET) in the upmarket Haidian district of China’s capital, local police said in a statement.

“The suspect, identified by the last name Tang (a 50-year-old male), was apprehended at the scene,” the statement said, adding that the injured have been taken to hospital and “are not in life-threatening condition.”

A video shared on social media showed two children lying unresponsive and bleeding on the ground. One was receiving care from an adult; the other was still wearing a backpack. A third person was seen lying on the floor a short distance away, being attended to by a number of onlookers holding bloodstained tissues.

CNN has not verified that footage.

Police said the incident occurred at the intersection of Wanquanzhuang Road and Wanliu Middle Road. That location is next to Zhongguancun No.3 Elementary School.

The country of 1.4 billion has generally low violent crime rates, but has been rocked by a number of high-profile stabbing cases in recent decades.

Several have targeted schools, including a 2020 knife attack at an elementary school, as well as attacks at or near kindergartens in 2022 and 2023.