A man armed with a sword stabbed a woman in Beijing’s busy Sanlitun district this afternoon.
The incident occurred at around noon, according to The Nanfang. A man, said to be in his 20s, chased the woman towards a Uniqlo store in front of the Tai Koo Mall and stabbed her with a meter-long sword. As passersby gathered around the victim, the man could be seen on video footage pacing around in the middle of the cleared-out square.
Pictures making the rounds on social media show a foreign male on the ground helping the female victim, who appeared to have been stabbed in the chest. The man is also covered in blood and was reportedly also injured.
Another video posted online shows the moment the attacker was apprehended. As police approached him, he simply placed his sword on the ground and lay down on his stomach.
The woman victim has also been identified as a foreigner, although her nationality has not been revealed. It’s reported that she died from her injuries.
UPDATE [3:23 p.m.]: The female victim is alive, and both she and the male victim are being treated for injuries at a hospital. The Beijinger has reported that the two are husband and wife.
UPDATE [4:30 p.m.]: An earlier version of this story’s headline suggested that the female victim in the attack was a foreigner. It has been ascertained that she is a Chinese woman.
More photos coming in over WeChat on the knife attack at Sanlitun~ pic.twitter.com/2bDLVchmwl
— RF Parsley (@sanverde) August 13, 2015
“@zhongnanhai: Stabbings in #Sanlitun. Photos circulating widely on Weixin. pic.twitter.com/5dOhU74Pdq” Horrible.
— Jordan Pouille (@jordanpouille) August 13, 2015
Watch the video footage from the scene below [WARNING: Extremely graphic content]:
[Imags via Weibo // Video via Beijing Cream]
