35 killed after driver plows car into crowds at sports center in China’s deadliest known attack in a decade

By Nectar Gan, Shawn Deng and Caitlin Danaher, CNN

Hong Kong (CNN) — Thirty-five people were killed in southern China after a man plowed his car into crowds exercising at an outdoor sports center on Monday evening, according to police, in the country’s deadliest known attack on the public in a decade.

Another 43 people were injured and hospitalized in the rampage in the southern city of Zhuhai, local police said in a statement Tuesday.

Police said the driver, identified as a 62-year-old man surnamed Fan, was apprehended while trying to flee the scene. An initial investigation suggested he was unhappy with the outcome of a divorce settlement, they added.

The death toll is the highest China has seen since 2014, when a string of terrorist attacks rocked the far western region of Xinjiang. But sudden episodes of violence in recent months targeting random members of the public – including school children – have surged across the country as economic growth stutters, unnerving a public long accustomed low violent crime rates and ubiquitous surveillance.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping described the the mass hit-and-run in Zhuhai as “extremely vicious,” calling for the perpetrator to be severely punished in accordance with the law, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Police said Fan’s small off-road vehicle forced its way into the grounds of the sports complex and hit people exercising around a track at around 7:48 p.m. Monday.

When police intercepted his escape, Fan was found self-harming with a knife in the car and taken to hospital for treatment, the statement said.

“Due to severe self-inflicted neck injuries, Fan is currently unconscious, still undergoing emergency treatment and unable to be interrogated,” police said.

Outside the sports center, some Zhuhai residents laid down wreaths, candles and bottles of Chinese alcohol to mourn the victims, but they were swiftly removed by authorities, Reuters reported.

Delivery drivers on motor-bikes kept dropping off flowers at the site on Wednesday but the bouquets were being immediately removed by security personnel deployed there, sometimes even before a person was able to put them on the ground, according to Reuters.

The car rampage took place the night before Zhuhai was hosting China’s biggest civil and military airshow, which runs from November 12 to 17.

Chinese officials have often carefully controlled and censored information following attacks on the public in a country where the ruling Communist Party’s prizes stability. The media spotlight on Zhuhai for the airshow and the high number of fatalities from the attack appeared to have only added to the sensitivity.

It took a full day for Zhuhai authorities to release any information on the casualties. The police’s initial statement on Monday, comprised of only two paragraphs, flatly stated that a car “knocked down multiple pedestrians.”

As news of the attack spread, censors swooped in to take down online videos of the attack and moderate social media discussions. Witness accounts and some Chinese media reports detailing what happened were also censored.

Online videos of the aftermath, geolocated by CNN, show scores of people lying on jogging tracks and nearby grounds, with shoes scattered around.

Many of the injured were in sports outfits, including the uniforms of at least two local fitness walking groups.

Chinese media outlet Caixin reported that the SUV crashed into multiple fitness walking groups hitting dozens of participants. Many of the injured were middle-aged and elderly, though teenagers and children were also among them, Caixin reported.

“(The vehicle) struck all around, injuring people in various sections of the sports field’s circular track, across the eastern, southern, western, and northern areas,” a witness surnamed Liu told Caixin.

The Zhuhai Sports Center features an outdoor track and field and is frequented by local residents for daily exercises. Following the incident, the center announced it would be closed until further notice.

On Tuesday evening, when police finally gave a more detailed account of the events, it rolled back on how much information to reveal.

A first version of its statement mentioned Fan’s repeated attempt to sue his ex-wife over disputes on how to split their assets. Dissatisfied with the rulings of the original lawsuit and the appeal, he sought a retrial, which is ongoing, the original statement said. But that paragraph was soon deleted in an updated version.

On Tuesday night, Xi urged officials to “prevent risks at the source” and “promptly resolve conflicts and disputes” to prevent such incidents from happening again.

China, a country of 1.4 billion, has one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the world, partly due to its strict gun controls and powerful mass surveillance. But it has faced a surge in attacks on random civilians in recent months.

In October, police arrested a 50-year-old man after a stabbing attack near an elementary school in Beijing injured five people, including three children.

In September, three people were killed and 15 others injured in a knife attack at a suburban supermarket in Shanghai.

Also in September, a bus crashed into a crowd of students and parents outside a school in Tai’an city in Shandong province, killing 11 people and injuring 13 others. The authorities did not reveal whether it was accidental or deliberate.

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