A man who authorities said was upset over his divorce settlement rammed his car into a crowd of people exercising at a sports complex in Zhuhai, killing 35 and severely injuring dozens of others, police said yesterday.
Police detained the 62-year-old man, who is being treated for wounds thought to be self-inflicted, shortly after the attack Monday night in the city.
The city is hosting the People’s Liberation Army’s annual aviation exhibition, which opened yesterday, and searches for what happened were censored for users behind China’s Great Firewall.
Outside of the controls, however, videos circulated on the social media platform X.
In several, dozens of people could be seen lying on the track at the sports complex, which is regularly used by hundreds of residents to run, play soccer or dance.
In one, shared by news blogger and dissident Li Ying, a woman says “my foot is broken.” That same video showed a firefighter performing CPR on a person, as others were told to leave. Li, who is known on X as Teacher Li, posts daily news based on user submissions
In addition to the 35 people killed, police said 43 were injured.
China has seen a number of attacks in which suspects appear to target members of the public at random.
In October, a man was detained after he allegedly attacked children with a knife at a school in Beijing. Five people were wounded. In September, three people were killed in a knife attack in a Shanghai supermarket, and another 15 were injured. Police said at the time that the suspect had personal financial disputes and came to Shanghai to “vent his anger.”
In May, two people were killed and 21 injured in a knife attack in a hospital in Yunnan province.
Police identified the man detained in Monday’s attack only by his family name of Fan, as is typical, and said he was unconscious and receiving medical care after being found in his car with a knife and wounded.
He was dissatisfied with the split of financial assets in his divorce, according to a preliminary investigation, police said.
For almost 24 hours after the attack, it was unclear what the death or injury toll was. Yesterday morning, a search on the Chinese social media platform Weibo for the sports center turned up just a few posts, with only a couple referring to the fact something had happened, without pictures or details.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for the “strict” punishment of the perpetrator according to law in a statement yesterday evening.
He also called on all local governments “to strengthen prevention and control of risks at the source, strictly prevent extreme cases from occurring, and to resolve conflicts and disputes in a timely manner,” according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang has called for appropriately handling the aftermath of the incident, swiftly investigating into the case and severely punishing the perpetrator in accordance with the law.
Following Xi’s instruction, China’s central authorities have dispatched a team to oversee the handling of the case. NG HAN GUAN & HUIZHONG WU, ZHUHAI,
