A young female manager at a Wal-Mart supermarket in Zhanjiang, southern China's Guangdong Province, was killed Thursday afternoon after a suspected snack stealer she tried to catch with several other workers cut her throat with a knife.

The 27-year-old Lin Meimei was pronounced dead on the scene by doctors.

The suspect, a man aged about 40, escaped the scene after the attack and was later hunt down by police at 10:30pm inside a local village.

Sources reportedly told Shanghai Morning Post that the incident started with the man picking up two boxes of snacks on the second floor of the store. He reportedly later moved to the third floor, hid in the corner and started to eat the food.

An undercover security worker discovered the alleged theft and reported the findng to Lin, the store manager.

Lin later arrived with four other security workers and asked the man to explain the situation. The man ran to the area selling knives, pulled out a knife from the shelf and attacked Lin, who was the first in the row chasing after him.

Sources said the woman was preparing to get married next month.