Call for the death penalty – divorce as motive for SUV crashes that left 35 dead

Numerous people also laid flowers at the crime scene in front of a sports center, and social networks are now full of comments expressing disbelief and calling for severe punishment for the driver. “He deserves the death penalty,” wrote one user on the social network Weibo. “What motivated him to commit such an inhumane act?” asked another.

Many compared the man’s actions to terrorism. According to information from security authorities the day before, preliminary investigations show that the crime, which injured 43 people, had a personal background.

Motive: frustration after divorce
After his divorce, the driver was dissatisfied with the division of the estate. He deliberately broke through the gate of a municipal sports center with a small all-terrain vehicle and hit people who were training there. When he fled, the man was immediately arrested by the police. He also seriously injured himself with a knife, which meant he could not be questioned.

The authorities only informed about it 24 hours late
There was criticism of the authorities’ actions. Although the incident occurred on Monday evening, it took about 24 hours for security authorities to announce that people had been killed. Both some media reports about the incident and comments on social media were initially suppressed by censors immediately after the crime. “A man in Zhuhai killed 35 people in an act yesterday. I only found out today,” said a user on Weibo.

Others linked the censorship measures to an international aviation exhibition currently taking place in Zhuhai, where China’s People’s Liberation Army is also displaying its latest aircraft. There was speculation that this should not be overshadowed by bad news.

Recently there has been an increase in similar bloody acts
Such attacks have increased recently in China. In October, a man was arrested after allegedly attacking children with a knife at a school in Beijing. Five people were injured. In September, three people were killed and fifteen others injured in a knife attack on a supermarket in Shanghai.

Foreign citizens have also been victims of attacks several times this year. In June, several teachers at an American university in northeastern China were stabbed by a man in a park. The same month also saw an attack on a Japanese woman and her child in Suzhou, eastern China. In September, a man attacked a Japanese student on his way to school in Shenzhen, southern China, fatally wounding him with a knife.