Knife attacker who killed 4, injured 7 sentenced to death

Xin Haiping, who killed four and injured seven on a bus in June, was sentenced to death for the crime of intentional homicide and deprived of his political rights for life by a court in Xi'an, Shaanxi province on Friday.

The trial heard Xin's claim to have fallen seriously ill after being attacked with a "malicious injection" when he was on a bus. This then triggered his idea of seeking revenge, Xi'an Intermediate People's Court said on its official social media account on Friday.

"His anti-social behaviors were extremely cruel, which brought particularly serious consequences. This individual is highly dangerous and therefore sentenced to death and deprived of political rights for life," the court added.

At about 3 pm on June 22, 2018, Xin got on bus 302 in Xi'an and began slashing people with a knife. He then alighted the bus and chased passengers and passersby, killing four and injuring seven, the court said.

Local police rushed to the scene immediately and held Xin under control soon after the incident.

He was prosecuted for alleged intentional homicide in October.