2 pupils killed in Shanghai knife attack

Local prosecutors are directing the investigation of a knife attack on Thursday in downtown Shanghai that killed two boys and left another boy and a parent wounded, the Shanghai People's Procuratorate said.

At 11:31 am, the pupils and the parent were walking from the school, Shanghai World Foreign Language Primary School in Xuhui district, when a man attacked them with a cleaver, or a traditional chef's knife with a large chopping blade.

The two boys died on their way to the hospital. Another boy and the parent managed to get away with non-life-threatening injuries, according to local police. The attack lasted less than five minutes.

Police arrested the attacker soon after the rampage, according to a witness surnamed Yu. Two security guards and a passer-by helped bring him down, Yu said.

According to a police news release, the attacker, surnamed Huang, 29 and unemployed, arrived in the city in early June and felt hopeless. He committed the attack out of revenge, and the investigation continues.

Students were at the school on Thursday to review their final exam papers. The semester ends on Friday. The private school, founded in 1993, has about 1,300 students.

The attack provoked anger, pain and sorrow among the public as video shot on the scene by witnesses started to circulate online immediately after the assault.

Many people, including some of the victims' teachers, went to the site of the attack to leave flowers and notes paying tribute to the dead and to offer condolences to the bereaved families.