GUANGZHOU, CHINA — A car ploughed into a group of pedestrians in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on Wednesday, killing at least five people and injuring 13, according to local police.
The incident, the cause of which was not yet known, took place at 5:25 pm near an intersection in the manufacturing hub of 19 million.
The 22-year-old perpetrator, whose surname is Wen, was driving a black BMW SUV.
An eyewitness told local outlet Hongxin News that the perpetrator deliberately drove into the people who were waiting for the traffic light and rammed the car into them maliciously. The perpetrator then made a U-turn with his vehicle and rammed into people again, including a traffic police officer in a neon yellow vest.
He also said that although the perpetrator did not go at full speed, the victims, however, could not run away in time as they did not expect such an act by the driver.
In a viral video of the post-incident scene, the perpetrator is shown beside his parked car along the side of the road and started throwing banknotes, which looked like 100 yuan notes aggressively.
The perpetrator started to walk away from his car with the bills in his hand after he saw a traffic police officer approaching him from the side before he started running away from the scene.
With the help of bystanders, the perpetrator, the traffic police officers managed to apprehend the fleeing perpetrator.
“The driver… was taken in for questioning by police, and the accident is currently the subject of a thorough investigation,” the head of Guangzhou police said on the Chinese social network Weibo.
A picture of the black SUV was posted by Chinese media, showing the damage sustained by the vehicle and done by the heinous act.
Chinese media also published images showing victims lying on the ground, with clothes and all kinds of articles of clothing scattered around the scene.
Road accidents are common in China, as are instances of road rage.
Just a day earlier, a disgruntled guest rammed his sports car through the doors of a hotel in Shanghai and drove wildly around its lobby after arguing with staff about his missing laptop.
Police said a 28-year-old suspect was taken into custody and that no one was injured in that incident.
With inputs from AFP
