Authorities in southern China were accused of downplaying an allegedly deliberate act after a young man drove an SUV through a crowded intersection last week, killing five people and injuring 13 others.
The 22-year-old suspect, who was identified only by the last name Wen, plowed his black BMW into his victims at a crossroad in Tianhe district in Guangzhou, a megacity of nearly 19 million people in Guangdong province, in an incident that was labeled a “traffic accident,” according to a statement by local police.
The crash happened at 5:25 p.m. local time on January 11 at the major intersection of Tianhe Road and Tiyu East Road, authorities said. Wen’s arrest was announced roughly two hours after the shocking rush-hour incident, which became a top trending topic on China’s Twitter-like website, Weibo.
Various dashcam and traffic camera videos captured graphic scenes as Wen’s vehicle was seen mowing down people seemingly at random. After striking several unsuspecting pedestrians at the crosswalk, he then appeared to turn the car in an apparent attempt to target others.
In cellphone footage of the aftermath, victims and debris were seen strewn across the ground. One clip allegedly showed Wen crashing into a woman at a separate intersection moments before the major incident, while another showed him trying to run over a uniformed traffic officer, who managed to escape.
The incident sparked further public outrage online after more videos raised questions about the suspect’s motives and social status. In one, reportedly taken shortly after Wen stopped his vehicle, the man was seen throwing banknotes into the air.
In another, while being pressed to the ground by police, he shouted that his uncle was Huang Kunming, the province’s Communist Party secretary. Newsweek couldn’t verify the claim.
Calls for a harsh punishment and posts mourning the victims flooded Weibo and other popular social media apps. Some 24 hours later, however, the trending topic disappeared and posts about the incident were being removed, leading to accusations of censorship.
Most of the clips were reposted to Twitter, which has become a digital archive for videos deleted from the Chinese internet.
Guangzhou resident Liang Songji told Radio Free Asia that the public would find it hard to accept the police’s downplaying of the high-profile incident as a “traffic accident.”
“Traffic accidents carry a sentence of one, two or three years. Five victims would mean five years,” Liang said. “I want to know his motives. Why did he do it?”
“Who’s the driver? What’s his family’s background? Are they powerful? Are they rich? This is what everyone around me wants to know,” he said.
On Weibo, comments urged authorities to declare the incident an act of terrorism. The police’s brief statement said they were still investigating the incident.
Users speculated that unconfirmed rumors about a connection to Huang, the party official, were among the reasons the topic was censored. Others said the tragedy might have reflected poorly on the Chinese government, coming in the days before the nation marks its first Lunar New Year after three years of strict anti-COVID rules.
Guangzhou police said on Saturday that Wen was charged with “endangering public safety.” They have yet to comment on Wen’s motives or whether he acted deliberately. Local authorities couldn’t be reached for comment.
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