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