Driver Who Killed 35 Sentenced to Death

UPDATE Dec 27, 2024 10:09 AM CST

A court in China has sentenced a man to death for killing 35 people by driving into a crowd. Fan Weiqiu was venting his anger because he was unhappy with his divorce settlement, the court in the southern city of Zhuhai said as it handed down the sentence on Friday. The victims were exercising at a sports center. The court statement said the 62-year-old's "criminal motive was extremely despicable, the nature of the crime was extremely vile, the means of crime were particularly cruel, and the consequences of the crime were particularly severe, resulting in great social harm," the AP reports.

Nov 12, 2024 6:08 AM CST

A driver killed 35 people and injured another 43 when he deliberately rammed his car into people exercising at a sports center in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, police said Tuesday.

• Suspect: Police detained a 62-year-old man, identified only by his family name of Fan, per the AP. Authorities say he was discovered in the car with a knife, with wounds to his neck thought to be self-harm injuries. He is unconscious and receiving medical care.
• Motive: Fan was dissatisfied with the split of financial assets in his divorce, according to a preliminary investigation, police said.

The police statement said the vehicle knocked down "a number of" of pedestrians Monday evening. For almost 24 hours after the crime took place, it was unclear what the death or injury toll was. On Tuesday morning, searches for the incident were heavily censored on Chinese social media platforms. A search on Weibo for the sports center only turned up a few posts, with only a couple referring to the fact something had happened, without pictures or details. Articles by Chinese media about the incident from Monday night were taken down.

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Outside of China's Great Firewall, however, videos were able to circulate. They were shared by news blogger and dissident Li Ying, who is better known on X as Teacher Li. His account posts daily news based on user submissions. Dozens of people were lying prone on the running track in the sports center in the videos. In one, a woman says "my foot is broken." That same video showed a firefighter performing CPR on a person, as people were told to leave the scene. The sports center attracts hundreds of residents daily, where they can run on the track field, play soccer, and dance.

(More China stories.)