Chinese court issues suspended death sentence to man who drove car into a crowd of schoolchildren

BANGKOK (AP) — A Chinese court issued a suspended death sentence Monday to a man for driving his car into a crowd of elementary school students and parents in southern Hunan province last month.

Huang Wen was arrested on site after wounding about 30, 18 of them children, according to the Changde Intermediate People’s Court’s statement, which marks the first time authorities have revealed official figures. Censors had taken down videos of the attack on social media and only terse statements from state outlets were used to report updates.

He was given a death sentence with a two-year reprieve, usually commuted to life in prison if the convicted commits no further crimes during the suspension period.

The court said he rammed his car into the crowd on Nov. 19 after losing invested money, taking out his frustration on bystanders. He was arrested on-site after trying to attack people with a weapon.

“Huang Wen chose an unspecified number of innocent primary school students as his main targets. His criminal motives were despicable and his malice is objectively deep,” said the court statement.

Huang’s attack happened just a week after a man drove into people exercising at a sports complex in the city of Zhuhai to the south, killing the man killed 35 people and wounding dozens.

Huizhong Wu, The Associated Press