22 School Children Stabbed in China on Day of Connecticut Massacre

Dec 18, 2012 03:27 PM EST

While the Connecticut school incident took place, another knife-wielding man injured 22 children and one adult outside a primary school in central China as students were arriving for classes Friday.

Min Yongjun, 36, a villager from Wenshu township in Guangshan county in Central China’s Henan province, is being questioned by authorities.

Min told police that he attacked the children after hearing rumors about the end of the world, said a report the county government released on its website on Monday. The report also said that Min has epilepsy.

A Guangshan county hospital administrator said the man first attacked an elderly woman, then students, before being subdued by security guards who have been posted across China following a spate of school attacks in recent years. He said there were no deaths among the nine students admitted.

It was not clear how old the injured children were, but Chinese primary school pupils are generally 6-11 years old.

Similar assaults against schoolchildren occurred in 2010, when nearly 20 were killed and more than 50 were wounded.