e feeling. On June 2nd a team of 8 police jeeps were quickly moving down Changan Avenue west of the square when of the Military Vehicles lost control and slammed up into the sidewalk hitting 4 innocent bystanders in front of more than 200 people. 3 of the victims were killed instantly and the fourth was critically injured. The reaction of the people watching was of horror. While one man dragged the driver out of the car and slapped him, the driver was let go. Others were enraged. This was the first actual death that resulted from a confrontation with PLA soldiers. While it cannot be considered an attack or a deliberate act, the true cause unknown, it shocked all who watched that a PLA soldier would ever cause harm to a Chinese person. A team quickly rushed to the square spreading the news of the accident and yelling angry slogans condemning Li Peng and calling for revenge. This event was a catalyst for further action by the citizens.
             The Chinese government deflected any blame. They reported that the jeep had actually been loaned to CCTV and was being driven by a CCTV employee at the time of the accident, a claim CCTV later issued a statement confirming. They accused a "handful of ruffians" of using the event to try and start a violent uprising. However, one theory of the event put forth by Yi Mu and Mark Thompson in Crisis at Tiananmen was that it may not have been an accident at all:
             It is not impossible that the military was using exactly the same strategy
             by taking the strong reactions from the people as an excuse to launch a
             brutal crackdown. For days, the nonviolent nature of the student led protests
             failed to provide military commanders any solid reasons to use lethal force.
             Therefore, the strong reactions incited by such an accident could well serve
             as an excuse to justify the actions of the following night as "quelling a
             counterrevolutionary rebellion" (80)
             While this can only be...