CCTV footage has revealed that the suspect in Tuesday's Guangzhou train station stabbing loitered in front of the station for nearly two hours before launching his attack.
Police yesterday revealed that only one suspect was involved in the attack which injured six, though local sources claim another three suspects are at large. The unidentified assailant, currently being treated in hospital, is refusing to provide his name.
A police source said that surveillance cameras filmed the man squatting between two convenience stores on Huanshi Dong Road on the western side of the railway plaza before the K366 train from Kunming arrived. The suspect was waiting in this position for almost two hours, before meeting up with three partners- one who appeared from the southern side of the plaza and two others from the northern side. The source added that the suspect was wearing a red baseball cap and white t-shirt. He removed the red cap to reveal a white cap underneath when he met the three individuals.
Meanwhile, a man from Heilongjiang province has become a local hero after media reported his attempts to fight off the stabber with a wooden rod. Shan was walking from the square to a local bus station when the attack began. The suspect attempted to stab Shan in his back, but was thwarted by Shan's rucksack. He sustained minor injuries to his head.
"I picked up a wooden rod that had been left on the ground by other passengers to confront the attacker," the 42 year old said. "More people would have been stabbed if I hadn't done that, because the attacker stabbed everyone he met like crazy." Shan added that he managed to knock the assailant's knife from his hand with the rod, before police rushed in.
Tuesday's knifing is the third major attack at China's railway stations in the past two months. In a gesture designed to reassure the public, security has been amped up and members of the government have made high profile visits to stations since Tuesday. That night, the public security minister and two deputy ministers visited railway stations in major cities including Beijing and Shanghai, while Guo Shengkun, the Public Security Minister, visited Changsha South Railway Station in Hunan to assess security measures.
A deputy minister of public security, Fu Zhenghua, evaluated police response time in Beijing Railway Station and South Railway Station, and was told police could arrive to the scene of an emergency within a couple of minutes. Another deputy, Liu Yanping, ordered police to remain on high alert in stations in Shanghai and Suzhou.
[Image via Weibo]
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