A man drove a sports utility vehicle (SUV) into a crowd exercising outside a stadium in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai on Monday night, killing 35 people and injuring 43 more.
Zhuhai Police said The suspect, identified as a 62-year-old man with the surname “Fan,” attempted to flee the scene, but was stopped by police.
Fan attempted suicide with a knife inside the car and was taken to a local hospital with severe neck injuries. He is reportedly in a coma and “interrogation by police is not possible.”
“Authorities have announced that a preliminary investigation indicates that Mr. Hwang's motive was dissatisfaction with the division of assets in the divorce case.” South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.
Chinese censors worked through the night to delete videos posted on social media by witnesses to the attack. NBC News noticed The Zhuhai attack was only the top 11 topic on China's heavily policed Twitter version of Weibo, and many posts discussing it were quickly deleted. suggests.
“I have no words other than shock. I need a moment of silence to calm myself down,” said one surviving Weibo post.
One witness said the victims consisted of six groups, including elderly people, women and children, who were regularly taking walks on a designated walking path for exercise.
An infographic showing a car plowing into a crowd outside a stadium in Zhuhai, in southern China's Guangdong province. (Photo by Murat Usubali/Anadolu, Getty Images)
A witness named Chen said his group had just finished their third lap around the stadium when a car flew towards them at high speed and “hit a lot of people.”
Another witness told Chinese media: “The cars drove in a loop and people were injured in all areas of the running course: east, south, west and north.” translated By BBC.
Zhuhai, located in southern China's Guangdong province, is also currently scene The People's Liberation Army (PLA) unveiled several new aircraft, including the J-35A stealth fighter, at a major air show. Sergei Shoigu, former Russian Minister of Defense and current Chairman of the Russian Security Council, will also be one of the VIP guests at the event.
The air show is being held at a venue approximately 39 miles from the stadium where the vehicle attack occurred. The BBC said it was “unclear” whether the attack had any connection to the air show. Chinese officials are certainly trying to give the impression that there was no connection.
Chinese dictator Xi Jinping said: unusual statement On Monday night, he called on local authorities to “do everything in their power to treat the injured” and comfort the families.
“The murderers should be severely punished according to the law,” he said.
Xi also called on local authorities to “draw lessons” from the incident, “strengthen risk prevention and management” and improve their ability to “resolve disputes and disputes in a timely manner”, but the killer The police statement that they are angry seems to be an illusion. about his divorce.
Mr. Xi reportedly ordered a “working group” in Beijing to go to Zhuhai to assist with the investigation.
China has experienced a series of attacks on civilians and foreigners, with some attackers using vehicles and others with knives. Recent attacks before the Zhuhai incident were knife goes wild At a Walmart store in Shanghai in early October.
The Shanghai attacker, a 37-year-old man named Lin, killed three people and injured 15 others to “take out his anger over a personal financial dispute.” The attack coincided with China's National Day holiday, but Chinese authorities treated the timing as a coincidence. Few additional details have been released since the attack.
Chinese officials said After the Shanghai attack, they were ordered to step up efforts to “screen out all the so-called losers and keep them under surveillance.” These officials have been given only vague guidance on identifying potentially violent individuals, and with too many people in dire financial straits, they are unable to monitor everyone. He complained that he couldn't put it down.
