A Korean-Chinese man allegedly enraged by an internet gambling loss went on a stabbing spree in a working-class neighborhood, southwest of Seoul, earlier this week, killing two people and seriously injuring a third, police said Thursday.
The suspect, a 39-year-old Chinese national of Korean descent, was apprehended by police after committing the murders at a permanent rental apartment in Siheung, 26 kilometers from Seoul, at around 8 p.m. Wednesday.
He reportedly began the stabbing spree after losing about 1.6 million won (US$1,203) in online gambling earlier that day, on top of a cumulative loss of about 80 million won.
The first victim, a man in his 40s, is said to have introduced the suspect to internet gambling and they gambled together before, according to the Gyeonggi Siheung Police Station. The man was badly wounded.
The suspect, allegedly frustrated after believing the first victim was dead, stabbed two other apartment residents -- women in their 60s and 70s -- against whom he claims to have harbored ill feelings, the police station said. The two women died.
Police said the suspect entered South Korea in 2010 and acquired Korean permanent residency the following year.
The suspect who has no particular job has been living in the Siheung apartment rented by a relative of Korean nationality since last October.
Source: Yonhap News Agency