A shocking and tragic event occurred at a McDonald's store in Zhaoyuan, a city in Shandong Province in China. A woman was beaten to death by six people who are reportedly part of a cult and were trying to get her phone number, according to the South China Morning Post.
The suspects, all members of the Quannengshen (Almighty God) cult, were collecting telephone numbers to recruit members in the Zhaoyuan restaurant at about 9pm on Wednesday. They were said to have become agitated when the victim, surnamed Wu, rejected them.
The brutality of the murder, captured on the smartphone video, has sparked outcry among the public since onlookers did not step in to try to help the woman. "Why was there no one in the restaurant fighting with the murders and rescuing the woman? Have our people lost their courage and uprightness?" asked a commentator on social media.
"If I stay quiet today, who will help me cry for help when I suffer from misfortunes in the future?," asked one Weibo user. "If I don't speak up as a passerby, then one day, if injustice should come upon me, no one would speak up for me as well."
The group preached a global apocalypse would take place in 2012 and has been banned by Chinese authorities, according to Reuters.
The attack occurred last Wednesday at a McDonald's restaurant in northeastern Shandong province and was captured on surveillance video, the official Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary.
The murdered woman was the mother of a 7-year-old boy, while the suspected murders included a father, his two daughters, one underage son, and two other women, according to state Xinhua News Agency.
