A 44-year-old man who shot and killed five people in northern China earlier this week was motivated by revenge over "trivial matters" and targeted specific individuals, authorities said Thursday.

Citing local police, officials said the shooter, surnamed Liang, was driven by "conflicts created by trivial matters in work and life", without offering more details.

Police have seized the small calibre rifle used in the crime, said authorities on their official WeChat social media account.

The suspect was in police custody and an investigation was underway, they added.

Kailu county police declined to comment.

The shooting, which took place on Monday, was a rare case of gun violence in China, where the government tightly restricts ownership of firearms.

There are no official statistics on gun-related deaths.

In November 2017, three people were shot dead and six others wounded in southern Guangdong province.

In January that same year, a high-ranking city official in the southwestern province of Sichuan burst into a government meeting and shot and wounded the mayor and city party secretary before killing himself.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)