Beijing China executed two men who committed deadly attacks that killed dozens in November, raising concerns about a rise in so-called “community revenge crimes,” state media reported Monday.
Authorities said Van Wick, 62 years old. He rammed his car into a crowd outside the sports stadium The execution took place on Monday in the southern city of Zhuhai, killing at least 35 people and seriously wounding at least 43 others. The attack was the country’s deadliest in more than a decade, according to authorities, and came on the eve of the country’s first airshow organized by the People’s Liberation Army and hosted annually in the city. Police said Phan was upset with his divorce settlement.
Tingshu Wang/Reuters
Also in November, 21-year-old Xu Jiajin killed eight people and injured 17 others in a stabbing attack at his vocational school in the eastern city of Wuxi. Police said Wu failed his exams and was unable to graduate, and was dissatisfied with his internship salary. He was also executed on Monday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
The intermediate people’s courts in the cities of Zhuhai and Wuxi respectively issued death sentences to the two men last December, and they were approved by the Supreme People’s Court, according to state media.
The killings prompted Chinese President Xi Jinping to urge local governments to take measures to prevent such attacks, known as “community crime retaliation.”
China has witnessed a number of attacks in which the suspects appear to target random people. Including schoolchildren. In October, a 50-year-old man was arrested after he allegedly used a knife to attack children at a school in Beijing. Five people were injured. In September, three people were killed in a knife attack in a supermarket in Shanghai.
China is believed to execute more prisoners each year than the rest of the world combined, although the exact total number is a state secret. Executions are usually carried out by shooting, although lethal injections have also been introduced in recent years.