Local police in Tonghai county of Yunnan province are offering a reward of up to 50,000 yuan ($7,300) for information on a murder suspect who is at large after allegedly killing a family of four on Thursday night.

The victims are Shen Fan, 30, the shopkeeper of a veterinary drugstore in Xiushan town of Tonghai, his 27-year-old wife Hu Qinli, their 6-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter, each suffering cuts on their necks.

Initial investigations showed that the suspect is a 1.7-m-tall male who wore a coat with the word "SPA" printed on it and a pair of black or brown sneakers of the Tebu Chinese brand.

The motive for the deaths remained unclear.

About 300 police officers have been assigned for the case, the authorities said.

Barriers have been set up around the scene of the killing and all neighboring stores have been closed temporarily, local media reported yesterday.

The report quoted a security guard on duty as saying that loud television noise in the store lasted from 9 pm on Thursday to 5 am the next morning. The store was always closed during this period of time. The killing was believed to have happened within these few hours.

The bodies were found by a technician, surnamed Li, working in Shen's store on Friday morning.

The murder suspect did not pay any attention to two gold necklaces on the couple's bodies, valued at nearly 10,000 yuan ($1,500) and a minibus parked in the store, according to 58-year-old Shen Zhengjin, Shen's father.

So he assumed that money was not the motive, the report said.

"This couple was very kind and polite to other people, so I can't believe this could have happen," a neighbor was quoted as saying.

"He (the murderer) killed them all. If one grandson or granddaughter was left, it would have given me some hope," Shen's father said.

His son was a promising young man whose career aspirations went far beyond a vet store, the reports said.

A similar killing occurred at night in a neighboring tarpaulin store in the area two days before Thursday's tragedy.

Local villagers said the same suspect could have committed the two murders but police have not confirmed the allegations.

Guo Anfei contributed to the story

(China Daily 01/25/2010 page3)