Finance
San Francisco: US police shot dead a driver whose car crashed into the Chinese consulate in San Francisco on Monday.
Unverified footage on social media showed a vehicle inside the building with officers pointing their weapons at the driver’s door, as people fled down stairs and into the open.
A spokesman for the consulate said the suspect had driven “violently into our consulate’s administration hall, posing a serious threat to the lives of staff and people on-site and causing serious damage.”
Sergeant Kathryn Winters from the San Francisco Police Department said that officers responded after receiving an alert about the vehicle crashing into the visa office.
“Officers entered, made contact with the suspect and an officer-involved shooting occurred,” Winters told reporters.
Winters said officers, paramedics, and medics made efforts to save the suspect’s life, but the person was pronounced dead at the hospital some time later. Winters added that the police could not provide any details about the suspect’s identity.
The local ABC7 News channel reported that its crews had observed people taking away a man covered in blood and apparently unresponsive from the scene.
“This is an open and active investigation and the San Francisco Police Department is currently working in coordination with investigators from the US State Department,” Winters said.
The consulate spokesman said the body “strongly condemns this violent attack and reserves the right to pursue accountability for the incident.
“The Consulate has made solemn representations to the US side, requesting a prompt investigation into the truth and a serious punishment in accordance with the law.”
San Francisco is home to a large number of ethnic Chinese residents, including many from Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Beijing considers a renegade province and has vowed to one day control.
