A KITCHEN hand suspected of knifing to death six nurses and a guard in a hospital dormitory in Hebei Province has a history of mental illness.

    Li Xiaolong, 27, a worker in the hospital’s canteen, was arrested after the attack, which took place at about 3:30 a.m. Thursday in the staff quarters of the People’s Liberation Army 281 Hospital in Beidaihe District, Qinhuangdao City.

    A seventh nurse being treated for wounds is in stable condition.

    State broadcaster CCTV said that Li, from Tangshan City in Hebei, has a history of mental illness and had been treated at hospitals in Tangshan and Beijing around 2006.

    There was no history of animosity between Li and those he is accused of attacking, the broadcaster said.

    The Southern Metropolis Daily reported that Li lived on the first floor of the hospital dormitory while those he attacked lived on the third floor. After the rampage, Li returned to his dorm rather than escaping, the report said.

    Neighbors in Li’s hometown in Xiaoheituo Village described him as an “introvert” who didn’t “get along with the crowd,” Beijing News reported. “I don’t know if he’s mentally ill but he sure looked a bit depressed and acted weird,” said one neighbor, 29.

    Village officials said Li had been working away from home for the past six years and returned occasionally to see his parents, who are in their 50s and lead humble lifestyles as peasants.

    (SD-Agencies)