List of mass stabbing incidents (2010–2019)

On 14 March 2013, Chinese exchange student and intern Chen Shuangxi attacked his co-workers at the Kawaguchi Suisan fish-processing firm in Etajima, Hiroshima, Japan. Two people were killed and six others were injured.[1][2] Chen attacked his co-workers with a shovel and a knife. Nobuyuki Kawaguchi, 55, the president of the Kawaguchi Suisan oyster farm, and female co-worker Masako Hashishita, 68, were killed in the attack. One man and five women were injured.[1] Chen testified that shortly before the incident he heard his name mentioned by colleagues. Hiroshima police believe he might have misunderstood colleagues and wrongly believed that they insulted him.

On 14 March 2014, a group of armed men with knives attacked civilians in Changsha, capital of Hunan. At least 6 people died.[3]

On Tuesday, 6 May 2014, at least six people were injured in a knife attack in Guangzhou, China. At least one suspect was shot and detained by authorities. It was believed by some witnesses that about four suspects were involved, they were clad in white clothes, wearing white caps and were carrying large knives.[4]

On November 19, 2015, an assailant approached the entrance of a Tel Aviv synagogue at prayer time, and stabbed and killed two worshipers. The attacker was arrested.[5] At approximately 14:00 pm, the assailant approached the entrance to the informal prayer room located in a South Tel Aviv building during afternoon prayers.[6] Worshippers inside the synagogue became aware of the attack when a man covered in blood staggered into the room and someone shouted, "There's a terrorist." Some worshipers assisted the wounded man while the other men who had been praying rushed to close the door, leaning against it to prevent the attacker from entering. When the terrorist ceased attempting to shove the door open, they rushed out with makeshift weapons to try to subdue him.[7]

This attack shocked the nation coming, as it did, after a period of calm, free of terror attacks.[8] According to the Jewish non-governmental organization ADL, it was "the bloodiest day in Israel since this latest round of Palestinian violence began back in September."[9]

This was the first attack to be carried out by a Palestinian who had successfully passed through the security screening process and obtained a permit to work in Israel.[8] The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories responded by suspending 1,200 entry permits to Israel, for Palestinians from the Hebron area.[10][11][12]

The attacker, Raid Halil bin Mahmoud (36), father of five, was arrested and identified as an Arab from the town of Dura.[11] He had recently been granted a permit to work in a Tel Aviv restaurant, but told authorities that his purpose in getting the permit had been to kill Jews.[6][7][13] The attacker had been granted the work permit enabling him to enter Israel only 4 days before he stabbed two men to death at the synagogue.[11] The assailant was indicted for murder on 13 December 2015.[14] The Israeli government demolished Raid Halil bin Mahmoud's West Bank home in response to the attack.[15]

On 28 February 2016, Hasnain Warekar fatally stabbed 14 members of his family before taking his own life. The murders took place in the Indian city of Thane.[16][17][18] The victims were his parents, wife, two daughters, three of his four sisters, four nephews and two nieces.[19] According to the police, there were multiple motives including: substantial financial debt, sexual abuse of a sibling, and his own psychological distress.[20] At the time (2016), the killings were classified as the "worst-ever family homicide" in the country's history.[20]

The incident took place at 1:00 am in Thane district of Maharashtra. The murderer's name was given in different sources as Hasnel Anwar Warekar,[21] Husnail Varekar[16] and Asnain Anwar Warekar, aged 35.[16] Warekar sedated his victims by spiking a soft-drink he gave them, before slitting their throats with a large knife.[20] The victims were his parents, wife, two daughters, three of his four sisters, four nephews and two nieces.[20] After killing them, he hung himself.[20] Warekar's motives were; financial debt, he had borrowed 6,700,000 Rs ($904,188 dollars) from family members, and lost it in the stock market; he had overheard a sibling he was sexually abusing telling his surviving sister of the abuse, and he was being treated for a psychological issue.[20] A 21-year-old sister of his survived and was taken to a hospital.[21]

Yang Qingpei (born 1989[22]) is a Chinese confessed mass murderer of 19 people. He confessed to killing his parents in an argument over money and then killing 17 neighbours with a pickaxe in an attempt to cover up his crime on 29 September 2016, state media reported. The youngest victim of the murderous rampage in a remote village in southwest China was three, the oldest 72. They were members of six families. Suspect Yang Qingpei, aged 28, went to his home village of Yema on Wednesday. He was arrested in Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, on Thursday. The crime took place in Qujing, Yunnan Province.[23] On 28 July 2017, Yang was sentenced to death.[24]

The 2017 Düsseldorf axe attack occurred when a 36-year-old asylum seeker from Kosovo attacked fellow passengers with an axe aboard a train on 9 March 2017.[25] He injured nine persons on a train and continued in the main train station in Düsseldorf, Germany. He fled jumping from a bridge and injured himself severely. He was considered to be mentally ill without a connection to terrorism.

The assailant was aboard a train when he suddenly began attacking fellow passengers with an axe. A fellow passenger managed to push him off the train, whereupon he attempted to get back on board by kicking and beating against the door. When he was unable to force the door open, he began attacking people in the central train station.[26][27]

The suspect, a 36-year-old man identified by authorities as being an asylum seeker from Kosovo in the former Yugoslavia, who arrived in Germany in 2009,[26][28][29] resided in Wuppertal.[30][31][32] Sources describe the attacker as being from Kosovo, a disputed territory formerly part of Yugoslavia.[33][34] Investigators see no indication that the suspect had a terrorist background.[34]

The attacker fled the scene, then jumped from a nearby bridge while attempting to escape capture, injuring himself when he jumped.[35] He was injured too severely to permit authorities to question him in the immediate aftermath of the attack.[36] Police described the attacker as a 2009 asylum seeker from Kosovo who suffered from a "psychological disorder."[26] In October 2017, the perpetrator was declared incapable by court. He was permanently housed in a locked-ward psychiatry.[37] Authorities did not see a connection to terrorism.

Ambulances at the scene after the attack

At 3pm on 28 July 2017, Ahmad Alhaw, a 26 year old Palestinian failed asylum seeker, went to an Edeka supermarket in Fuhlsbüttler Strasse in the Barmbek area of Hamburg.[38][39] He took a 20 cm-long kitchen knife from the supermarket shelf and used it to attack several people, killing a 50-year-old German man.[40][41][42] Deutsche Welle reported 6 injured in addition to the killing.[43][41] According to eyewitnesses the man shouted "Allahu Akbar" during the attack. Prosecutors said that he had hoped to die as a martyr.[44][45][46]

Der Spiegel reported the suspect, who was arrested at the scene, as a refugee named Ahmad A., who allegedly had contacts with the Salafist sect, as well as having psychological and drug problems.[47] He is a 26-year-old Palestinian born in the United Arab Emirates[48] who arrived in Germany in 2015.[49] Hamburg's Interior Minister Andy Grote stated that the suspect "was known as an Islamist but not a jihadist".[50]

Citing security sources, Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel reported that the perpetrator was a failed asylum seeker who was known to German police;[46] he had been added to the list of 800 suspected Islamists in Hamburg prior to the attack.[51] The news agency DPA reported that security authorities were investigating evidence the man had Salafist ties.[46] He was awaiting deportation,[39] but had not been deported because he did not have "identification and travel documents".[52] While German prosecutors claim that the attacker had a "radical Islamist" motive, investigators have not found any links to jihadist groups.[53] Alhaw also had watched ISIS propaganda videos online which radicalized him over a period of time.[54]

Two teenaged males entered a classroom on 15 January 2018, in the Motovilikhinsky District in Perm, Russia wielding knives and injured eleven students and one teacher. The teacher was attacked after attempting to subdue them.[55] Reports initially stated that two masked men had burst into the school and attacked students, but authorities later clarified that the incident began as a fight between two students.[56]

A security source told reporters that prior to entering the classroom, the two teenagers had engaged in a knife fight in the hallway, and a local source identified one of the boys as a past student who had been expelled[55] while the other was a current student at the school. The fight was then reported to have moved into a classroom in which the teacher and several students attempted to subdue them.[57] The Russian Ombudsman for children, released a statement that said; "Fourth year pupils were protecting their teacher who was trying to stop older guys fighting with knives."[58] Police and ambulances were called at 10:20 am local time (00:20 am ET).[59] The school was later evacuated.[60]

The teacher and the two perpetrators were admitted to the hospital in critical condition.[61] Twelve other victims were reported to have been transported to a local children's hospital,[57] and nine children received "superficial injuries".[56]

The two perpetrators were arrested and a criminal case was opened on both on charges of attempted murder of two or more people, including minors, committed by a group of individuals with prior agreement.

The Russian Ombudsman raised concerns about the incident, and declared "We will figure out how armed guys made it to school and who did not respond to the situation at the site. Was there really no-one apart from ten-year-old children who could stop the hooligans. What about the school guards?"[62] After the incident an account on the Russian social network VK, that is believed to be connected to one of the perpetrators was discovered to have posted a video of American High School shooters, including Columbine High School massacre perpetrators Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. The account was also connected to a group called (school)shooters and an account under the name of the other perpetrator referenced Slenderman.[61]

On the night of 9 June 2018, Ichiro Kojima (小島 一朗[63]), who was 22 years old at the time, attacked passengers with a billhook on the Tokaido Shinkansen train that was running in Kanagawa Prefecture. He killed one and seriously injured two people.[64] Kojima, the criminal, was arrested by the police and subsequently charged with murder and other charges. "I wanted to go to jail. It was a hassle to think for myself and live. I thought it would be easier to live within the rules set by others, so I aimed for life imprisonment." he said.[65][66] Kojima was sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2019 and was confirmed in January 2020.[67][68][69] He expressed joy in being sentenced to life imprisonment he wanted.[70][71][72] In response to this incident, the companies that operate the Shinkansen worked to strengthen the safety measures for the Shinkansen.[73]

On 31 December 2018 at 20:52 GMT, three people were stabbed in a knife attack at Manchester Victoria station. A man and woman in their 50s and a British Transport Police officer were seriously injured. The perpetrator, Mahdi Mohamud, was originally detained under the Mental Health Act, was sentenced to life imprisonment in a high-security psychiatric hospital.[74] Witnesses reported that he shouted "Allah"[75][76][77][78] during the attack and "Allahu Akbar" after being arrested.[79][80] He appears to have acted alone.[78][81]

Two of the three victims, a couple who had come into town to celebrate the New Year, were hospitalised with serious injuries. The third victim was a British Transport Police officer who received a stab wound to his shoulder.[78]

The suspect, due to concerns over his mental health, was initially held under the Mental Health Act.[78] He is a 25-year-old man from Somalia who has lived in England for about 10 years and resides in Manchester's Cheetham neighbourhood with his parents and siblings.[80][78] On 31 May 2019, it was reported that the suspect was charged with a terrorism offence and three counts of attempted murder, and was due to appear in court.[82] The perpetrator pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted murder and a terror offence.[83] In November, 2019 he was sentenced to life imprisonment in a high-security psychiatric hospital.[74]

Police are reported as having an open mind in relation to the motives.[80][81] Greater Manchester Police said that because of the nature of the attack, their officers were looking into the state of the suspect's mental health.[80] The BBC reported that a witness alleged that during the attack he shouted "Allah" and also shouted a slogan "criticising Western governments".[80] BBC producer Sam Clack reported he heard him saying "As long as you keep bombing other countries this sort of s--- is going to keep happening,"[84] According to The Guardian, witnesses heard the attacker shout "Allahu Akbar" after he was arrested and "long live the caliphate".[78]

The Săpoca Hospital massacre was a mass murder that occurred on 18 August 2019 at the Psychiatry and Safety Hospital Săpoca, Buzău County, Romania. 38-year-old patient Nicolae Lungu killed seven people and injured six others using a metal stand for infusions, after which he was detained by police in the courtyard of the hospital.[85][86]

The Psychiatry and Safety Hospital Săpoca is a hospital in Buzău County. It was founded on the basis of a vocational school in 1960. In 2011, Săpoca Hospital was the largest of its kind in the country and had more than 850 beds.[87]

On 27 April 2018, a man hanged himself in the courtyard of this hospital.[88] On 14 August 2019, Nicolae Lungu hired a neighbor to work on collecting melons. He become drunk afterward. On the same day, he arrived at the Buzău County Hospital. On 15 August 2019, he was transferred to Săpoca Psychiatric Hospital.[89][90][91] On 17 August 2019, his brother and three other friends visited him in the hospital.[89][92] On 18 August 2019, at 1:45 a.m., a patient with alcoholism was admitted to the hospital, who was put in the same bed as the suspect, although there were empty bunks in the ward.[93][94]

Around 3:00 a.m., on 18 August 2019, Nicolae Lungu attacked hospital patients using a metal infusion stand. He hit three patients in the men's room and they died immediately. After that, he went to the women's department and there struck ten patients, one of whom died on the same day. The victims could not resist because they were unconscious or tied to beds. The attack was shot on surveillance cameras. Lungu then broke the window and jumped into the hospital courtyard. He wanted to run away but was detained by chance when he appeared in the courtyard by policemen.[90][95][96][97]

As a result of the attack, seven people died and six were injured.[85] Of those, three people were killed at the scene, and ten were injured.[98] One of the injured people died at Buzău County Hospital that day,[98] an 88-year-old woman died on 19 August 2019,[99] a 79-year-old woman died on 26 August 2019,[100] and a 74-year-old man died on 20 September 2019.[85]

Nicolae Lungu, 38 years old at the time of the attack, lived in the village of Săgeata, Buzău County. He lived in a house with his mother, and often cursed and yelled at her. He was cruel and beat his mother when he drank alcohol. He worked in the field and in the forest. He has two brothers and a sister.[101][89][92]

The Kuopio school stabbing occurred on 1 October 2019 at Savo Vocational College in Kuopio, Northern Savonia, Finland. Armed with a sabre, 25-year-old student Joel Otto Aukusti Marin killed a female student and wounded nine others. He also carried an air pistol which was not used during the attack; it was initially mistaken for a real firearm. The attack ended when a policeman shot and wounded Marin.[102]

The attack began in a classroom at Savo Vocational College, located in the premises of the Herman shopping mall. Students in the classroom described how Marin arrived to class with a "long bag", took out a longsword and began stabbing people.[102] Police were alerted at 12:29. The attack lasted for at least eight minutes, during which Marin stabbed ten people. The only fatality was a 23-year-old Ukrainian-born woman who was a student at the college. During the attack, a fire was started in the building, presumably by Marin, but it was quickly extinguished.[103] The attack ended when a policeman shot and severely wounded Marin, who was sent to the Kuopio University Hospital for treatment. The policeman was also wounded.[104]

Joel Otto Aukusti Marin (born 1994) was a student at Savo Vocational College. The police found several incendiary devices similar to a Molotov cocktail when they searched Marin's apartment after the attack.[105] Based on preliminary information, he had no previous criminal record.[103]

Marin had moved to Kuopio from the municipality of Siilinjärvi at some point after matriculating in 2014.[106] He had been regularly bullied since primary school for reasons such as his clothing and being overweight. He was described as quiet and lonely.[107] Marin had participated in shooting courses at the Kuopio Shooting Club.[108]

The Finnish Parliament (eduskunta) held a minute-long moment of silence the day after the attack to honor the victims. Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne called the violence "shocking and completely unacceptable"[109] and visited Kuopio on 4 October.[110] In November 2020 the perpetrator was sentenced to life imprisonment.[111]