Local police immediately started searching for Kuang and found two more people dead at about midnight on Tuesday. Authorities determined the man and woman, who lived next door to Kuang in a rented room on a dairy farm, were the first victims in the killing spree.

The couple's son-in-law said that his father-in-law and mother-in-law had mentioned that they had quarrels with Kuang over the vegetable plot behind the house.

Local police set out in pursuit of Kuang at about 10:45 pm Tuesday after receiving tips on his whereabouts. Finally, the suspect, who had a homemade gun, was killed in Nanyuan village, Jinjiang town, as he resisted apprehension.

Kuang had been sentenced to eight and a half years in prison in 1996, and four years in 2009, both times for larceny.