Jin had paid 950 RMB ($115) to Wang Yushun (王玉顺) and Hao Fengqin (郝凤琴), owners of an illegal explosives workshop near Shijiazhuang.

[5] According to Jin Ruchao's confession, he flew to Tianjin after stabbing his girlfriend to death in her home in Maguan County, Yunnan, and took a bus to the suburbs of Shijiazhuang, where he hid the fuse and detonators.

For some reason, the truck driver refused to take the bags further while midway through the journey and Jin was forced to store them in an abandoned building in a village outside of the city.

[6][5] The first bomb went off at 4:16 am and blew a hole in the walls of the 15 Cotton Mill dorm, which housed Jin's step mother at the time.

Shortly after, the 16 Cotton Mill dorm, where Jin lived and had a bitter argument with a neighbor regarding splitting rooms, was completely leveled by the second bomb.

[17] There were conspiracy theories that Jin was a scapegoat with no knowledge of explosives,[11] and that the blast could have been orchestrated by disaffected ex-employees who had been laid-off in China's restructuring.