Man Crashes Car Into Shopping Mall in China, Injuring 2

A driver crashed a Volvo sedan through the glass entrance of a shopping mall in Baoding, China, on Sunday evening, injuring at least two people, according to a local resident and police.

Video footage circulating online shows the car running over a motorbike before crashing through the glass doors and striking a pillar inside the mall.

Authorities identified the driver as a man with the surname Sun and said the crash resulted from improper operation of the vehicle, causing the driver to lose control. Police said two people suffered minor injuries and were taken to a hospital for examination.

“After examination at the hospital [of the injured], there were no serious issues,” Baoding police said in a Sept. 20 statement.

Police said they also ruled out the suspicion that Sun was driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol and that the incident remained under investigation.

Wang, a local resident who only provided his surname out of fear of reprisal, told The Epoch Times that the shopping mall is considered one of the more upscale malls in the area, and government agencies use it to make purchases with shopping vouchers distributed to officials.

He said that when he arrived at the mall later that evening, the Volvo was covered with a black cloth and people had gathered. He also said police and state security officers later dispersed the crowd and prevented them from taking photographs. He added that officials ordered some people to delete photos from their phones.

Wang said officials involved in handling the incident appeared to include not only Baoding police and state security personnel but also officials from the Hebei provincial government. The Epoch Times could not independently verify his claims.

The incident followed a series of violent episodes reported in different parts of China in August and September, several of which involved vehicles or weapons injuring people in public places.

On Aug. 17, a 48-year-old driver surnamed Zhou drove an SUV over several pedestrians near the exit of an underground parking garage at a farmers’ market in Jinping County, Guizhou Province. The following day, a man attacked people with a knife on a street in Shantou, Guangdong Province.

On Aug. 19, a man dressed in white attacked several pedestrians with a knife on a street in Xining, Qinghai Province.

On Sept. 14, a man attacked people with a knife on a street in a university district of Guangzhou, China. At least three people were injured, with the victims being stabbed primarily in the face.

Luo Ya contributed to this report.