Police killer Yang Jia was executed in Shanghai on Wednesday, November 26, according to a report by the Xinhua News Agency. On Monday his mother Wang Jingmei had been allowed to visit him to say goodbye according to a report in the Jinghua Times.

Yang Jia stands a trial for killing six police officers and leaving other four injured during a police station raid on July 1. [File Photo: sh.eastday.com]

Yang Jia, a jobless Beijing man, entered a Shanghai police station earlier this year and killed six policemen.

The Supreme People's Court ratified the death sentence on November 21, upholding the decision of the Shanghai Higher People's Court.

Yang Jia’s mother has been in hospital since his arrest. She was informed on October 31 that her son’s appeal had been dismissed. Accompanied by hospital managers she flew to Shanghai on the afternoon of November 23 and met him next morning.

At around 7:30 PM Tuesday Wang called reporters saying "the officials said Yang Jia will be executed within the next seven days and that I could see him one last time."

On July 1 Yang stabbed a security guard at a police station in Shanghai's Zhabei District before starting a fire. He then forced his way into the building and attacked nine police officers with a knife, killing six of them.

He was apprehended at the scene and confessed to the killings.

Yang was sentenced to death by the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court at his first trial on September 1 and his appeal was turned down by the city's Higher People's Court on October 20.

Yang reportedly had held a grudge against Shanghai police following a lengthy interrogation last October after he was arrested for riding an unlicensed bicycle. He later sued the officers for psychological injury, claiming 10,000 yuan (US$1,464) in damages, but his claim was rejected.

The Shanghai higher court ruled Yang was fit to stand trial and was criminally responsible for his actions after a forensic psychiatric assessment conducted by a qualified and specialized institute commissioned by the police. It did not name the institution.

Yang Jia and the murder weapon, a knife. [File photo: people.com.cn]

(China.org.cn November 26, 2008)