Police formally arrest suspect in China car ramming

BEIJING - A man apprehended by Chinese police for killing 35 people when he rammed his car into a crowd was formally placed under arrest on Nov 16, state media said.

The 62-year-old man, surnamed Fan, drove a small SUV into people exercising outside a sports complex in the southern city of Zhuhai on Nov 11, according to police.

Police said Fan was detained at the scene but was in a coma after self-inflicted knife injuries, which prevented them from interrogating him.

“Zhuhai People’s Procuratorate approves Fan’s arrest on suspicion of endangering public safety by dangerous methods according to law,” China’s state broadcaster CCTV said.

“The case is currently under further investigation,” it added, without specifying Fan’s condition.

Police said 43 people were wounded in the attack but not currently in life-threatening condition.

The attack was the deadliest since 2014, when a vehicle ramming and suicide bombing in the northwestern city of Urumqi killed 43 - including four assailants - and wounded more than 90.

Police said this week that preliminary enquiries suggested Fan’s attack was triggered by his “dissatisfaction with the division of property following his divorce”.

AFP saw residents and delivery drivers laying bouquets at a gate outside the sports complex on Wednesday - but within minutes the flowers were carried behind a cordon fence.

Officials at the site said the items were being moved to a “mourning hall” inside the complex with no access to the public.

Videos and images of the attack meanwhile appeared to be removed from online platforms by China’s internet censors.

Violent crime is generally rare in China compared to many Western countries, but the Asian nation has witnessed a spate of deadly attacks in recent months.

In October, a man killed three people and wounded 15 others in a knife attack at a supermarket in Shanghai.

A Japanese schoolboy was stabbed to death in the southern city of Shenzhen in September.

And in July, a 55-year-old motorist ploughed into a crowd in the central city of Changsha, killing eight people, following a property dispute. AFP