A 28-year-old female lawyer from Beijing, Ms. Lou, was tragically hit and killed by a brick thrown from a high-rise building during a visit to Changchun in June 2023. The perpetrator, Mr. Zhou, was sentenced to death in October 2024 for his actions.
According to reports from various mainland Chinese media outlets, on June 22, 2023, a 23-year-old unemployed man named Zhou threw eight bricks from the 32nd floor corridor window and rooftop of a building in Changchun’s Hongqi Street Wanda Apartments. One of the bricks struck Ms. Lou as she passed by a night market, resulting in her immediate death.
On the day of the incident, Zhou had eaten a meal at Wanda Plaza and depleted his last remaining savings before returning to the apartment. That night, he picked up a brick in the building corridor and threw it from a great height. Upon hearing screams from below, Zhou rushed down to the first floor, confirmed that he had hit a passerby, and voluntarily surrendered to the police.
Investigations revealed that a few days before the fatal incident (on June 17), Zhou had thrown two 5-liter buckets of water and three unopened cans of cola from the window of the same apartment, resulting in injuries to two individuals.
In his confession, Zhou stated that he found life meaningless and had considered jumping off the building but lacked the courage to do so. Instead, he decided to throw bricks to kill someone, whoever got hit, and subsequently be caught by the authorities and face the death penalty.
Psychiatric evaluations confirmed that Zhou was mentally sound at the time of the incident and fully responsible for his actions.
On December 13, 2023, the Changchun Intermediate Court sentenced Zhou to death. The execution took place on October 21, 2024.
In September 2025, the family of the deceased female lawyer filed a civil lawsuit against Dalian Wanda Group (plaza management), the property management company (apartment managers), and the night market organizers, seeking over 2 million RMB in compensation citing the failure to provide adequate security measures. On September 15 of this year, the court ruled that the three parties were collectively responsible for 40% of the damages: Guoxin Qiancheng Property Management bears 20%, Wanda Property Management bears 15%, and the night market management bears 5%.
On the same day, the sister of the deceased lawyer confirmed to “Purple Cow News” that Wanda had already fully paid the compensation, while the property management and night market were preparing the funds for compensation.
The sister of the deceased lawyer expressed that a few days before the incident, Zhou had already thrown water buckets and metal cans of cola, which had been reported to the police, but the property management did not take any measures, notification was not made, nor were the people queuing in the night market downstairs warned, otherwise the tragedy could have been prevented.
She tearfully mentioned that her sister was a legal professional working in a state-owned enterprise in Beijing, holding a lawyer’s practicing certificate, and had plans to get married. Following her sister’s death, their parents both suffered severe depression and multiple hospitalizations. She herself has been unable to work for years due to seeking justice, leading to the complete breakdown of the family’s hopes.