On April 22, 2025, a vehicle-ramming attack took place when a woman drove her car into pedestrians outside of an elementary school in Jinhua, Zhejiang, China, killing 14 people and seriously injuring more than a dozen others. Among the victims were officers, parents and nine students.
Background.
The attack occurred five months after the 2024 Zhuhai car attack that killed 38 people and injured 48 others, the 2024 Changde car attack which also took place at a school, injuring 30 people and the 2024 Wuxi stabbing at the Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology that killed eight people and injured 17 others. The perpetrators of the Zhuhai and Wuxi attacks were executed in January 2025, while the perpetrator of the Changde attack received a suspended death sentence in December 2024.
The Sumeng Township Central Primary School, abbreviated as Sumeng Primary School, was founded in 1927 in the district of Wucheng, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China. As of 2025, the school had 21 classes, approximately 996 students and more than 50 faculty and staff.
Attack.
At around 5:45p.m. a driver in a silver sedan rammed into a crowd of pedestrians and a row of flowerbeds at a high speed without slowing down on a road at the gate of the Sumeng Township Central Primary School while students and staff were heading home. Multiple people were struck and fell to the ground on impact and some were stuck under the car with bystanders being to weak to help and victims being struggling stand up. Bystanders banged on the car's window. Witnesses posted footage of the crash to Twitter. At the time of the attack the intensive care unit at the local hospital was full. Authorities restricted access to the school by closing off roads around the school.
Victims.
Reports claim at least 14 people, including nine students, police officers and parents, were killed while multiple others were seriously injured. At least one of the injured victims, a man, suffered critical injuries to his head. Today's Question Network reported seven people were killed and more than a dozen others were injured while The Epoch Times reported that an insider said six people were killed and an unknown number were injured during an interview and MBN News reported over ten people were killed. Authorities are restricting information and have not confirmed any casualty figures but acknowledged that the incident did occur.
Suspect.
A person in a group chat of a class at the school claimed the vehicle involved in the attack was driven by a local woman with a Guizhou license plate. The person and residents also said her child died in a crash while studying at the school and she was dissatisfied with the way the school handled it, so she did the attack in revenge. Sources claimed the child committed suicide by jumping off of the school building because of being bullied. Online reports said the mother was detained for seven days after she went to the school and tried to find staff to argue with because of the bullying. After finding out their mother was detained, the child committed suicide. When the woman was released, she did the attack in anger. An online user claimed that there was a conflict between the woman and the parents of the bully.
Responses and reactions.
Former state media reporter Wang Zhi'an made social media posts suggesting possible intentional targeting. Chinese sources claim the attack was intentional and the motive was revenge.
Authorities tried to block the news and called the incident a traffic accident. The police checked the dashcams of every parent of the school and asked them to delete it. Chinese articles and posts about the incident were also deleted shortly after being published. A parent revealed they weren't allowed to take pictures and claimed would be given to the deceased victims families' for humanitarian reasons.