Suspect confesses to killing landlord

Jinshan district police have arrested a 32-year-old Henan Province man who confessed to killing his landlord during a dispute over 50 yuan ($8), police said Thursday.

The suspect, surnamed Zhou, told police that he and the victim, a 56-year-old man surnamed Wang, got into an argument Wednesday over whether he owed the landlord the money, said a press officer surnamed Wang with the Jinshan District Public Security Bureau.

After the argument escalated, Zhou hit Wang in the head with a brick and then smothered him to death, the press officer told the Global Times.

Zhou told police that he hadn't planned on killing the landlord and only picked up the brick in the heat of the moment.

Wang's family called the police after his wife found the body around 11 am lying in a pool of blood in the room they rented to Zhou and his wife, according to a report on the news website Xinmin.cn.

Police confirmed that Wang died Wednesday morning.