Man Demolishes Father-in-Law’s Home with Forklift

An apparently enraged forklift operator used his vehicle to smash the home of his father-in-law after disagreeing with his wife, police in China said.

The incident occurred about 7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 7, in the village of Sun Jianjing in the southeastern Chinese province of Zhejiang.

Seven adults and five children — the youngest of whom was only six months old — were having a dinner of “hot pot” and watching television when they suddenly they heard a loud bang and saw the man driving his forklift across the lawn of their yard, according to a report in the South China Morning Post.

12 People Hiding in 1 Bathroom

The father-in-law told the Peoples Daily Online that the family members ran for cover in a bathroom as the house’s roof and walls collapsed around them. The family crammed into the toilet cowering in terror as the house collapsed all around them.

The forklift apparently stopped only after it got a flat tire. The driver, later identified as Xiao Pen, got out and started to approach the family while carrying a brick, but was subdued by male family members and later turned over to police.

Two of the driver’s own children — aged four and six — were inside the home at the time he attempted to destroy it.

A Horrific Scene of Destruction

Photos from the scene show nothing left of the house but a pile of rubble. It looks more like a tornado or a bomb destroyed the house rather than one man and a forklift. It’s difficult to understand how nobody was killed in the attack, but there were no reported injuries.

The father-in-law told police that he didn’t really know the man very well. His youngest daughter met her husband years earlier in Jiangsu province where they worked together, but only brought him home to meet her family for the first time last year.

After recently losing his job, the man apparently had recently found a job as a forklift operator at a nearby construction site about a month ago.

Motivated by a Broken Heart

Apparently, the couple had had a falling out and the husband wanted to reconcile, but the woman’s family forbade it, which was motivated his homicidal forklift attack.

Another home, as well as a nearby bridge and a shrine, also were damaged in the attack. The man currently is in the custody of the Cixi Public Security Bureau, which is investigating the incident.