Car crashes into Zhuhai sports center, killing 35 and injuring 43 in suspected vengeance assault

Local police stated yesterday that a man killed 35 people and injured 43 more after he drove his car into individuals engaged in exercise near a sports center in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai.

With footage allegedly deleted from social media, the toll from the Monday event increased dramatically compared to the initial report. The police only acknowledged the injuries sustained by the individuals.

A 62-year-old man named Fan drove a compact SUV through a barrier and “forced his way into the sports center, ramming people who were exercising on the internal roads,” according to police reports on Wednesday.

Their statement added that preliminary research indicated Fan’s attack had been “triggered by (his) dissatisfaction with the division of property following his divorce.”

Monday night, geolocated AFP footage showed people lying lifeless on the ground, and others were furiously trying to revive the unconscious.

Chinese news magazine Caixin quoted an eyewitness named Chen as saying that groups frequently took daily walks on the designated track around the stadium.

On Monday, he had just finished his third circuit when a car suddenly rushed at them, knocking down “many people.” He still managed to leap aside.

Another eyewitness called Liu told Caixin the automobile “drove in a loop.”

He claimed that injuries occurred in all directions on the running track: east, south, west, and north.

Police said on Tuesday that they “controlled on the spot” Fan as he attempted to leave.

Currently in a coma due to self-inflicted injuries to his neck and other body parts, they discovered him in his car slashing himself with a knife, unable to withstand interrogation.

Police reported that the forty-three injured persons are not in a life-threatening state right now.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged “all-out efforts” to heal the wounded and “demanded punishing the perpetrator in accordance with the law,” according to state news agency Xinhua.

Right now, Zhuhai hosts China’s biggest airshow, highlighting Beijing’s military and civilian aerospace industry.

When AFP arrived at the sports stadium on Tuesday night, less than twenty people were there.

Some people trying to capture videos were obstructed by a police cruiser and security officers yelling “No filming!”

Candles were flickering in a makeshift monument, while others were making online flower deliveries at another entrance. One delivery man claimed to have brought ten orders there that evening already.

One resident told AFP, “Zhuhai should be the safest city; nothing like this has happened here in the last decades.”

Normally going around the sports center every night, a stunned young man told AFP he hadn’t gone on Monday as he was weary.

He lamented the media’s coverage of the incident, pointing out that local sources would have pressured officials for answers.

At around midnight, cleaners extinguished the candles and personnel removed the flowers, stating that the public could view them tomorrow.

A few of the employees told AFP that the floral relocation decision was “order from the top.”

Earlier social media videos showed Zhuhai citizens waiting at hospitals and blood donation centers.

Before a hospital’s emergency department close to the crime site, security was strong and a large number of doctors and nurses were swarming about.

 

Japan’s embassy in China issued a safety advisory yesterday, advising its nationals to be especially vigilant and “refrain from speaking loudly in Japanese and avoid provocative, attention-drawing behavior such as being loud in groups.”

Although the embassy claimed it had no knowledge of any injuries suffered by any Japanese nationals during the incident, it added China has witnessed a string of severe public demonstrations lately.

The killing of a Japanese schoolboy in Shenzhen, a nearby city, in September infuriated Tokyo.

In an October knife assault at a Shanghai supermarket, a man killed three people and injured fifteen others.

Additionally, police reported in July that a car struck eight pedestrians in central Changsha, killing eight of them.