A man who had been on the run for one year after allegedly killing six family members was arrested Wednesday in north China's Shanxi Province, local police authorities said Thursday.

The suspected killer, surnamed Zhang, was caught in Taiyuan, the capital city of Shanxi Province late Wednesday, the Taiyuan Public Security Bureau said in a statement.

Zhang, 34, confessed to hacking to death his parents-in-law, wife, son, daughter and a nephew as they slept at his home in Manshan Village, Lingshou County in the neighboring province of Hebei in the early hours of Feb. 10 last year, it said.

The killings occurred because Zhang bore a grudge following a quarrel with his wife over trifles and subsequent criticism from his parents-in-law on the previous night.