On Monday, US police shot dead a driver whose car crashed into the Chinese consulate in San Francisco.
On social media platforms, circulated unverified footage showed a vehicle inside the building with officers pointing their weapons at the driver’s door, as people ran downstairs and into the open.
The suspect had driven “violently into our consulate’s administration hall, posing a severe danger to the lives of staff and people on-site and causing serious damage,” a spokesman for the consulate said.
Officers responded after being cautioned that the vehicle had crashed into the visa office, San Francisco Police Department’s Sergeant Kathryn Winters said.
Winters told reporters, “Officers entered, made contact with the suspect and an officer-involved shooting occurred.”
Winters said that officers, paramedics, and medics had attempted to rescue the suspect’s life, but the person was pronounced dead at the hospital sometime later, adding the police could provide no details about the suspect’s identity.
The local ABC7 News channel said its crews had noticed a man covered in blood and unresponsive being carried away from the scene.
Winters said, “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.”
The body “strongly denounces this violent invasion and reserves the right to pursue accountability for the incident, the consulate spokesman said.
“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 ethnical Chinese residents, including many from Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China believes is a renegade province and has pledged to one day control.
