5 killed in China as hit-and-run driver ‘takes revenge’ for failed investment

Five people died on Saturday when a man drove his car at high speed into a crowd of pedestrians in the city of Dalian in northeast China.

A 32-year-old suspect, identified only as Liu, has been detained, police said. He is reported to have said that he was upset because of a failed investment and wanted to “take revenge on society”.

The incident happened at 11.40am in a downtown area of the city. Footage caught on CCTV and mobile phones showed a black sedan car accelerating into a group of people as they were using a pedestrian crossing.

According to a police statement, Liu, who works as a hairdresser, jumped a red light and accelerated to 108km/h (67mph) in just seven seconds before crashing into the pedestrians.

Four people died at the scene and a fifth died later in hospital. Five other people were injured in the incident, police said.

Qu Bo, Dalian’s deputy police chief, said on Sunday that the suspect had been detained on a charge of “endangering public security”. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty.

“The suspect was unable to accept his personal investment failure and lost confidence in life, so he took revenge on society,” Qu said, without elaborating on the nature of the failed investment.

After ploughing through the pedestrians, Liu fled the scene in his car before colliding with a van at an intersection. He then abandoned the vehicle and tried to escape on foot but was caught by police at about 1pm.

Internet users reacted angrily to news of the deaths.

“What did these innocent passers-by do wrong?” one person said on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform. “Investment failure does not mean life failure. You not only ruined your own life, but also ruined the lives of several families. Such a lunatic!”

“It’s really hard to understand how one person can hate the whole world because of a personal investment failure,” said another. “I am a failed investor, but I hate no one but myself.”

Road rage incidents are not uncommon in China.

In July last year, a 52-year-old bus driver deliberately drove his vehicle off the road into a reservoir in southern China, killing himself and 20 passengers.

It was reported that he wanted to take revenge on society after his home in Anshun, Guizhou province, had been demolished by the government.

In October 2019, five people were killed and nine injured in Shanghai when the driver of a car ran a red light while trying to flee a minor traffic offence.

The 63-year-old was detained on a charge of “endangering public security”. He stood trial a year later but has yet to be sentenced.

This article was first published in South China Morning Post.