The 62-year-old man drove an SUV into people who were exercising outside at a sports complex in Zhuhai, Guangdong province (south), on Monday evening. after the police. This is the worst killing in recent years in China, a country unaccustomed to violent incidents of this scale.
The driver was arrested shortly after the tragedy, when he stabbed himself, particularly in the neck, before being hospitalized in a coma, the police explained. The Zhuhai People’s Procuratorate decided on Saturday to “approve the arrest” of the suspect for “endangering public safety by dangerous means”, underlined the television channel CCTV. “The investigation continues,” she said, without specifying the state of health of this man.
Based on the first elements collected, he was able to commit his act because of his “dissatisfaction” with the division of property following his divorce, the police said this week. According to the latest official report, the attack also left 43 injured.
This tragedy arouses strong emotion in China, particularly because the streets there are generally very safe. Many residents came to lay flowers in front of the sports complex where the tragedy took place, but the authorities dismantled this place of tribute and imposed strict censorship on social networks on the affair.
China has seen several deadly attacks in recent months. In Shanghai in October, a man killed three people and injured 15 others in a knife attack at a supermarket. In September, a Japanese schoolboy was stabbed to death in Shenzhen (south). In July, a 55-year-old motorist drove into the crowd in Changsha (center), killing eight people, after a property dispute.
