RMS Empress of Canada (1931)

Location of attack

Location of the attack

At approximately 9:30 a.m. (UTC+09:00) on 5 June 1931, Graciano Bilas, a 42-year-old Filipino steerage passenger, began stabbing people randomly with a pocketknife aboard the Empress of Canada.^[1][2][3] Bilas, a plantation laborer in Hawaii, had boarded the ship on 29 May to sail to the Philippines.^[3] At the time of the attack, the Empress of Canada was en route from Honolulu to Yokohama and was located at 34°31′N 145°31′E / 34.51°N 145.51°E / 34.51; 145.51.^[2] After engaging in a friendly conversation with a Canadian crew member, Bilas stabbed him and two others who happened to be nearby.^[1] The assailant continued to attack crew members and passengers, stabbing several from behind in the steerage and alleyways.^[1][3] Crew members searched for half an hour for Bilas before finding him in the ship's bow.^[1][3] He was restrained and arrested, with accounts differing as to whether he surrendered or was forcibly taken into custody.^[1] Bilas was kept in the brig under armed guard as the ship sailed to Hong Kong, where he was charged with murder.^[1][2]

Two Chinese crew members, chief engineer Chan Yue and cabin boy Chan Ching (or Chang Ching), were killed.^[1][2][3] Twenty-nine others were wounded.^[1] As of the day after the attack, eight Japanese and nine Chinese victims were in critical condition, while two Chinese victims were feared to have been fatally wounded.^[1] At least four crew members and eleven passengers were stabbed.^[4]

In late June 1931, Bilas' trial began in Hong Kong.^[2][4] Despite the high number of casualties, he was only charged with the killing of Chan Yue.^[2] The knife used in the attack and a statement made by Bilas were presented as evidence.^[2] In the statement, Bilas said that he targeted Japanese passengers because he suspected that they were planning to throw him overboard.^[2] The Empress of Canada's surgeon testified that he believed Bilas suffered from manic depressive psychosis, stating that Bilas was incoherent after the attack, refused food and drink, and would stand for hours in one position.^[2] In July, Bilas was found insane and committed to a psychiatric hospital.^[5]

Nainital, India (1950)

The Nainital wedding massacre was a mass murder that occurred during a wedding in Nainital, India on 21 April 1950, when a drunk Gurkha soldier stabbed 22 guests at a wedding, all of them apparently fatally. The man, who was armed with a machete, was enraged by a low caste money lender marrying a girl of the higher social standing Brahmin caste, and stabbed the Harijan members. All of his victims were members of the Harijan caste.^[6][7][8][9]

Skåne County, Sweden (1952)

On 21 August 1952, Tore Hedin began killing after his ex-girlfriend, Ulla Östberg, did not return to him. He first killed his parents and set their house aflame.^[10] He then went to Östberg's workplace, a retirement home, and he killed her and the matron with an axe. He set the retirement home on fire as well, killing five of its residents. Hedin had previously killed a friend of his in 1951, similarly burning the home to erase evidence.^[11]

Mahagi, Belgian Congo (1954)

In 1954, Ugandan police constable William Unek used an axe to kill 21 people in one and a half hours near Mahagi, Belgian Congo.^[12][13][14] Three years later, Unek went on another rampage near Mwanza, Tanganyika, killing 36 people using an axe, a knife, a rifle, as well as burning and strangulation.^[15][16][17] He was killed after attempting to evade police during a manhunt.^[18][19][20]

Chicago, Illinois (1966)

Richard Speck killed eight student nurses on the night of 13–14 July 1966, holding them captive and stabbing or strangling each of them throughout the night.^[21][22] A ninth student nurse escaped by hiding under a bed.^[23] Speck was identified after a suicide attempt, when he was taken to the hospital and a resident physician recognized Speck's tattoo from a description in the news.^[24]

Kowloon, Hong Kong (1982)

The Anne Anne Kindergarten stabbing was a mass stabbing which occurred in Kowloon, Hong Kong on 3 June 1982. After killing his mother and sister in their flat in Un Chau Street Estate, and also wounding two other women, 28-year-old Lee Chi-hang (李志衡; Lǐ Zhìhéng; lei5 zi3 hang4) entered Anne Anne Kindergarten and stabbed 34 children, killing four of them, and also injured several other people, before he was arrested by police. Lee was found to be insane and was placed in a mental institution.^[25]

At around 1:30 pm, Lee stabbed his mother and sister in their flat, Room 5274, Block 8, Un Chau Street Estate. They later died in hospital. Armed with two knives with eight-inch blades and two chisels, Lee ran downstairs, stabbing two sisters in the stairwell on the way, and fled to the Anne Anne Kindergarten (安安幼稚園), now Precious Bloods Children's School, located on the ground floor of Block 9 Un Chau Estate. He entered the kindergarten, where 60 children between three and four years of age were having a singing lesson, and immediately began slashing and stabbing the children, leaving 34 of them wounded, six of them with their arms nearly severed,^[26] and four with fatal injuries.

One of the teachers shouted "follow me" to the students, causing many to run outside.^[27] She ran to the estate's neighbourhood policing unit on the ground floor of Block 10 for help. Two police officers arrived at the scene. Lee fled to the playground, where he stabbed constable Chan Kin Ming in the chest.^[28] Ignoring the injured policeman's orders to drop his weapons, Lee continued stabbing at passers-by, wounding two men and a woman and wounding a 14-year-old boy before Chan stopped him with a shot to the left arm and stomach.^{[29][30][31][32]}

A total of 38 injured children were taken to Caritas Medical Centre while the injured police constable was taken to Princess Margaret Hospital.^[28][33] Chief Secretary Philip Haddon-Cave and other government officials, who had coincidentally been visiting the nearby Cheung Sha Wan fish market, arrived soon after to inspect the scene and offer condolences.^[28]

Lee, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, was the son of Lee Chiu-wing (李士榮; Lǐ Shìróng) and Leung Lai-kuen. According to his father, he was a silent boy who did poorly in school, showed strange behaviour, and spoke incoherently. In 1976, he was admitted to Castle Peak Hospital, a mental institution, for six months, after fighting with a neighbour.^[26] He subsequently received treatment at the Yaumatei Psychiatric Centre.^[28] Lee frequently had depression and threatened to kill his parents during an argument in January 1979. In the time prior to the stabbing, he was unemployed and was said to have appeared emotionally unstable.^[29]

After the stabbing, security measures at nursery schools were upgraded, and it was made compulsory for discharged patients of mental institutions to regularly attend psychiatric out-patient clinics. Lee was charged with six counts of murder,^[29] and in April 1983 he was sentenced to be detained in a mental hospital for an unspecified period.^[34] As of January 1998 he was still being held at the Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre in Tuen Mun.^[26] The 1986 film The Lunatics by Derek Yee is based on the incident.

Chantada, Spain (1989)

On March 8, 1989, Paulino Fernández left for Chantada. There, he spoke with his lawyer about the land acquired. According to the lawyer, he was nervous and depressed more than usual. He then talked to the notary, and later did some work with his brother. At noon, he returned to Surribas. There he dined with his brother and his wife. He talked about the land they wanted to take from him. After lunch, the brother and wife went to friends. At 2:30 p.m., he left his house with a knife and met his neighbor, who was chopping wood. He asked a neighbor what a group of people standing on the street was doing. A neighbor told him that they were waiting for a bus to take them to the funeral. He stabbed a neighbor several times and ran after him, but the neighbor ran away from him. A neighbor asked for help from people on the street, and he was taken by car to a hospital in Chantada. Neighbors did not pay much attention to the attack, got on a bus and went to the funeral. Paulino then returned home, drove the cows out to graze, and drove them to Quinzán. He saw 4 people working on the farm, "A Lamela". Despite the fact that they all had sickles, Paulino killed three with a knife on the spot and wounded one woman. She tried to run away, but he caught up and killed her. He then met a neighbor and seriously injured him. He then went to Surribas via Quinzán. Along the way, he attacked seven neighbors. Two of them died on the spot, one died 20 days later in hospital and 4 or 5 others were injured. He also did not attack some people along the way. He also used an ax during the attack. At the end of the attack, one man managed to take a knife from him and Paulino went home. His brother learned of the massacre and took Paulino's wife out of the house. When he returned, he set fire to the house and lay down on the bed. He died in the fire. During the fire, his body fell to the ground floor of the stable and was found there. His neighbors also heard a tractor explode during the fire.^{[35][36][37][38]}

Paulino Fernández Vázquez, 64 was born in Surribas in 1925. He lived in Surribas, Chantada municipality. He was a farmer, had 14 cows and bought a tractor shortly before the attack. He lived with his wife, they had no children. He married 30 years before the attack. His wife was 12 years older than him. She was blind, deaf, and had a hip fracture. Neighbors and acquaintances described him as calm, closed, and stingy. He had no conflicts with neighbors. Some time before the attack, he bought several plots of land from his relatives in Brazil. After the purchase, he did not register the land in the cadastre in his own name. Tax receipts were received in the names of previous owners. This was done so as not to pay taxes. After the purchase, he began to worry that this land would be taken away from him. He told his relatives that he was afraid that his neighbors would take the land from him. He also became nervous and complained of severe headaches. His lawyer reassured him that no one would take his land. In 1971, he was diagnosed with depressive syndrome with a pathological reflex that affected his stomach and liver. Also, this year, he went to a psychiatrist. Three years later, he returned to a psychiatrist and his diagnosis largely coincided with the previous one. He also found an organic reflection of the rheumatic disease. He last consulted a psychiatrist in 1988. His wife recalled that he had a single attack of insanity as a child and that there were many images of saints on his bedside table.^{[35][36][37][38]}

This event is mentioned in the film Cannibal Massacre.

Nafang, China (1989)

On the afternoon of 19 March 1989, Huang Guozhen became intoxicated, set fire to his house and drove to his brother's house, killing his brother and his wife with a firewood knife. Guozhen then proceeded to travel to the local market and began to kill individuals at random, including children and the elderly. In total, he killed 16–17 people and injured two others. Sometime before the rampage killing, Huang became embroiled in a dispute with his brother, Huang Xiangbang.

Guozhen was eventually subdued by bystanders Huang Guoqin and local CCP party secretary Zhou Youbang. Guozhen was arrested and tried ten days later in Qinzhou. He was sentenced to death in front of a crowd of 10,000 people and was quickly executed on the same day.^[39]

Auckland, New Zealand (1990)

On 16 July 1990, a mentally ill woman attacked the courtyard of the Jewish Kadimah College's primary school in Central Auckland, stabbing four children with a knife while screaming antisemitic slogans. The attack continued as other young students looked on "in horror", while members of staff ran to help the children. The woman, 52-year-old Pauline Janet Williamson, was eventually disarmed by a male teacher, Mr Yurovitch. The children, aged 6 to 8, were hospitalised immediately afterwards; all survived, after going intensive surgery. They were identified by police as 6-year-old twins Nicholas and Samuel Henderson; Simon Clark, 6, and Damon Bree, 8.

This apparently random act of antisemitic violence in New Zealand, a country known to be tolerant of its Jewish community, shocked many. However, it followed the desecration of several Jewish graves in Dunedin by two months, which itself was a copycat of an attack on Jewish graves in Carpentras, in the South of France.^[40]

As the pupils played in the school courtyard before school was due to start on Monday, 16 July 1990, mental health outpatient Pauline Janet Williamson ran onto the school courtyard, where 6 year olds Nicholas and Sam Henderson and Simon Clark, and 8-year-old Damon Bree were playing. She then produced a 4-inch, stay-sharp vegetable knife and began screaming antisemitic slogans and a Jewish surname (not one shared by any of the victims), before wildly lacerating these four children.^[41]

Birmingham, United Kingdom (1994)

The Rackhams' stabbing incident refers to a mass stabbing incident in 1994 where a British man, David Cedric Morgan (then 30 years old), stabbed 15 people in a Rackhams department store in Birmingham, England. Three people were seriously injured and needed surgeries. In addition of those stabbed, five people were treated for shock.^[42][43]

Morgan, who originated from Aston, was schizophrenic. In October 1994, he visited his GP, complaining of "evil thoughts" about attacking women.^[44] He had been admitted to the All Saints' Hospital, Winson Green in 1988 following the death of his father, and was diagnosed with schizophrenia and hypomania and depressive psychosis. After treatment psychiatrists said that he had recovered and he was discharged with directions that he should receive support from the community psychiatric team and continue on his course of drugs for three months.^[44] In 1992 and 1993, Morgan was twice arrested for attacking women in the street. On both occasions he was conditionally discharged, but the psychiatric services were not alerted and there was no further contact until he visited his GP asking for help in the autumn of 1994.^[44]

On 8 December 1994, the then-30-year-old Morgan visited a Rackhams department store that was packed with Christmas shoppers, wielding a 10-inch-long butcher's knife and a 12-inch bread knife,^[42] first attacked manager Karen Crosby, 35, on the Estee Lauder perfume counter at 10:20 am. Jan Twining, 50, was browsing Christmas cards when she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned round, and Morgan slashed her in the neck. Kay Pilkington was slashed in the throat, needing 12 stitches because of the wound. Moving to the jewellery he attacked two more women, chasing one around the store.^[44] One victim nearly had her windpipe slashed.^[44] Two female security officers who tried to help customers as Morgan attacked them on the floor, were injured. Several of the victims pleaded with Morgan to spare them from his attack.

After slashing 15 women, Morgan was finally accosted by police as he wandered around the first floor. Keith Hart, 43, armed himself with a golf club from the store's sports department. He managed to subdue Morgan, along with 38-year-old Sgt James Lavery, by firstly ordering him to put his weapon down.^[44][45] Morgan later told police he had come to the store "to cut someone".^[44]

Morgan was arrested and brought to court, and despite a disagreement between his legal team and the NHS, it was later determined by a psychologist that Morgan was vulnerable and isolated but apparently suffered from no mental illnesses. Morgan was sentenced to life imprisonment in February 1996.^[45][44] He admitted to nine offences of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and one of assault.^[44] The judge told Morgan that "There can be no doubt that you are an extremely dangerous man. It is certain you must be detained until you cease to represent a risk to public safety – if that time never comes, so be it."^[44] He also recommended that Morgan not be put forward for parole before serving at least 12 years in prison.^[44] In 2002, he was transferred from the Broadmoor Hospital to a medium security unit where he would be allowed on escorted shopping trips as part of rehabilitation.^[45] In 2006, Morgan, then 43 years old, was released into the community to go shopping. At the time he was being treated at the Stafford's St George's Hospital.^[46] A documentary from World in Action about Morgan, titled "Terror in Store", was made shortly after his conviction and sentencing in 1996.

Chenggu County, China (1998)

The Chenggu axe massacre was a mass murder that occurred in Chenggu County, Hanzhong, Shaanxi, China on June 23, 1998, when Yang Mingxin, a 39-year-old local farmer, killed nine people, and wounded three others with an axe.

Yang, who was described as reticent, had refused to sell ten stolen geese for another farmer named Guo Baoning, and when the owner of the geese later caught him, Guo suspected Yang had informed on him. After a heated argument between the two, during which Guo threatened to kill Yang's family, Yang armed himself with an axe and hacked twelve villagers between 4 months and 71 years of age. Unable to locate Guo he eventually tried to commit suicide by drinking insecticide and hanging himself, but was rescued and taken to a hospital.^[47][48][49]

Krông Pắk District, Vietnam (1998)

Dương Văn Môn, a member of the Nùng minority, was a poor rice farmer, and was said to have once had an unspecified mental illness.^[50] When his mother died he reportedly dug a grave on village property, but was then denied to use it, and therefore had to bury her in his own garden.^[51] He also got severely into debt to finance the traditional funeral feast.^[52]

On the third day of the festivities, when his guests began to complain that there was not enough to drink and eat, the 35-year-old armed himself with two machete-like knives and began to attack his relatives and neighbours. He first stabbed an elderly woman preparing food in his house, as well as a child, and eventually began chasing people throughout the village, killing a total of eleven people, among them seven children, and leaving six others injured, including his wife. One of the wounded died in hospital, according to early reports. Afterwards he tried to commit suicide by swallowing insecticide, but was forced to vomit it when he was captured by villagers 4+1⁄2 hours later. He was then arrested by police and brought to a hospital.^{[53][54][55][56]} Môn was sentenced to death for the murder of eleven people in November 1998.^[57]

Shimonoseki, Japan (1999)

On 29 September 1999. Yasuaki Uwabe, a 35-year-old former architect, drove a car into Shimonoseki Station and then stabbed passers-by at random, killing five people and injuring 10 others, before being arrested at the scene. Uwabe was sentenced to death in 2002 and executed in 2012.^[58]

Orleans, Ontario (2000)

Ikeda, Japan (2001)

On 8 June 2001, ex-convict Mamoru Takuma began stabbing students and teachers with a kitchen knife at Ikeda Elementary School in Ikeda, Japan. He killed eight students and injured thirteen students and two teachers.^[59]

Manchester, United Kingdom (2003)

While attempting to escape from police officers in Manchester, Kamel Bourgass used a kitchen knife to stab four police officers, killing anti-terrorism detective Stephen Oake.

Ruzhou, China (2004)

On 26 November 2004, Yan Yanming (Chinese: 闫彦明) (1983 – January 18, 2005) entered a dormitory at the Ruzhou Number Two High School in Ruzhou, China on November 26, 2004, with a knife and attacked twelve boys, killing nine of them.^[60][61] After the attack, Yanming ran away from the school, but was arrested hours later after he failed to commit suicide because his mother had reported his location to the Ruzhou police. After trial, Yanming was sentenced to death and executed on January 18, 2005, in Pingdingshan.^[62]

Jilin Province, China (2006)

On 24 September 2006, Shi Yuejun killed several people whom he believed had wronged him. He continued killing through September 29 before he was caught in a 14,000-person manhunt.^[63][64][65] He killed a total of twelve people and injured five more.

Tsuchiura, Japan (2008)

Masahiro Kanagawa's police mug shot

On 23 March 2008, Masahiro Kanagawa (金川 真大, Kanagawa Masahiro, October 13, 1983 – February 21, 2013) went on a stabbing spree in the city of Tsuchiura, which left a 27-year-old man dead and seven others wounded. Police arrested Kanagawa, then 24, who was wanted in an earlier slaying of a 72-year-old man. The man told the investigators that he "just wanted to kill anyone".^[66] The suspect, who carried two knives, stabbed the 27-year-old man to death and hurt at least seven others, while the victims were walking along a short hallway connecting Arakawaoki Station.^[67] The 27-year-old died as he was being rushed to a nearby hospital.^[68] Police said that Kanagawa liked games and that he hid out in Akihabara while escaping.^[69] Some media outlets claimed that he murdered people under the influence of Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword.^[70] He reportedly sought capital punishment.^[67] Tomohiro Katō, who committed the Akihabara massacre, is alleged to have posted a message which referred to his case.^[71] The Mito District Court sentenced him to death on December 18, 2009,^[72] and he was executed by hanging on February 21, 2013.^[73]

Tokyo, Japan (2008)

On 8 June 2008, Tomohiro Katō drove a rented truck into a crowd and then jumped out with a dagger. He stabbed at least twelve people before he was pursued and captured by police.^{[74][75][76][77]} Four people died of stab wounds, and three died from the truck attack.^[78]

Shanghai, China (2008)

Beijing, China (2008)

The Drum Tower of Beijing

Three people were stabbed in Beijing, China, on August 9, 2008, by 47-year-old Tang Yongming of Hangzhou, while visiting the 13th-century Drum Tower in Beijing during the 2008 Summer Olympics.^[79] The attacker then leapt to his death from a 40-metre (130 ft) high balcony on the Drum Tower.^[80]

The victims were Todd Bachman, a prominent horticulturalist from Lakeville, Minnesota,^[81] his wife Barbara, and their female Chinese national tour guide. Todd Bachman, who died in the attack, was the father of American athlete Elisabeth Bachman and the father-in-law of Team USA men's volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon, whose team went on to win gold at the Olympic tournament.^[82] Barbara Bachman was severely wounded but survived the attack.^[83] She and the female Chinese tour guide were listed in stable condition at a Chinese hospital.^[84] Elisabeth Bachman was also on the tour but was uninjured.^[85]

Tang Yongming spent most of his life in the outskirts of Hangzhou, and was a metal presser at the Hangzhou Meter Factory for more than twenty years. He had no previous criminal record, according to investigators.^[86][87] Investigators reported that Tang was distraught over family problems.^[88] A colleague who knew Tang said that he had "an unyielding mouth", "grumbled a great deal", and was "very cynical".^[87] Another former co-worker said Tang 'had a quick temper and was always complaining about society".^[87] Police reported that Tang went through his second divorce in 2006 and grew increasingly despondent when his 21-year-old son started getting into trouble. The son was detained in May 2007 on suspicion of fraud, then received a suspended prison sentence in March 2008 for theft.^[88]

Shortly after the attacks, the tower was closed to tourists with the surrounding area still open to tourists. Chinese officials strengthened their security measures to alleviate safety concerns. At the time, there were 110,000 officers were stationed in Beijing.^[89] There were also 1.7 million volunteers in the city, including 1 million "social volunteers" who "[kept] an eye out for troublemakers".^[90] Beijing Olympic official Wang Wei announced that there would be extra security checks implemented at some scenic areas, and large outdoor screens used to view the games around Beijing were muted or turned off to avoid large crowds.^[89]

Seoul, South Korea (2008)

The Nonhyeon-dong massacre was a mass murder that occurred in the Gangnam-gu ward of Seoul, South Korea on October 20, 2008, when 30-year-old Jeong Sang-jin (정상진) set fire in a goshiwon and slashed several women with a sashimi knife. A total of six people died in the incident and seven more were injured.^[91][92] Jeong was sentenced to death on May 12, 2009.^[93]

At about 8:15 a.m., according to police, Jeong, who lived on the third floor of a four-story gosiwon, a low-cost lodging facility, poured gasoline on his bed and set it ablaze. Dressed all in black, wearing a headlamp, and hiding his face with a balaclava and goggles, he emerged from his smoke-filled room and, armed with a sashimi knife, two fruit-knives strapped to his legs, and a tear gas gun in a belt holster, began slashing and stabbing the residents of the building who were fleeing the fire. Five people died of the wounds Jeong had inflicted on them with his knife, one woman died when she jumped out of a window in the fourth floor in an attempt to escape, and another seven were injured, four seriously, either by Jeong or the fire. Three of the dead and three of the injured were Chinese citizens. The fire raged in the building for about 30 minutes, before around 100 firefighters finally succeeded in taming the flames.

At 9:20 a.m., Jeong, initially thought to be another victim, was rescued by a fireman from a storage room in the fourth floor where he was hiding. When police noticed his peculiar behavior, Jeong was interrogated at the scene and he confessed to the crime. He was immediately arrested and brought to Gangnam Police Station, where he was charged with homicide and arson.^{[94][95][96][97][98][99][100]}

Jeong Sang-jin, originally from Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province, moved to Seoul in 2002, where he scratched a living with part-time jobs as food delivery man or parking valet, though as of April 2008 he was unemployed and had to face severe financial difficulties. According to unconfirmed reports, he was convicted eight times, once for skipping an obligatory training for military reservists, for which he was fined of 1.5 million won. During interrogations, he said he was persecuted since his childhood days and attempted suicide twice during his time at middle school. He claimed that he occasionally suffered from severe headaches since those attempts.^{[91][96][101][102]} Jeong was in severe financial distress and couldn't pay his rent and mobile phone fees for months prior to the rampage. After his arrest, he stated that he didn't want to live anymore, as everyone looked down on him. It was said that he might have wanted to express his anger towards the rich and high authorities, but as they were difficult targets, he lashed out against those who were at hand. Further blame was also laid on the film A Bittersweet Life by Kim Jee-woon, which Jeong was said to like.^{[103][104][102]}

Dendermonde, Belgium (2009)