A guy rammed his car into the Chinese consulate in San Francisco on Monday, leading police to shoot fire and kill him.
Officers responding to the scene discovered the unknown guy had been shot, according to a police statement.
Hundreds of people were seen exiting the diplomatic building, and a blue Honda car was seen sitting in the lobby.
According to a statement issued after the incident, the event was regarded a “serious threat” to the consulate’s personnel and anyone in the region.
“We strongly condemn this violent attack and reserve the right to pursue responsibility for the incident,” the company said in a statement.
China’s foreign ministry has accused an unknown individual with breaking into the embassy with the goal of hurting its staff.
Since then, the embassy has temporarily shuttered areas of its office and issued grave representations — a diplomatic word for expressing dissatisfaction — to the US, requesting that the situation be addressed properly.
The police have confirmed that an investigation is continuing, but have remained tight-lipped about the specifics.
Officers went to a report of a car collision and discovered the vehicle had stopped in the lobby of the Chinese embassy. According to Kathryn Winters, a San Francisco Police Department spokesperson, “officers entered, made contact with the suspect, and an officer-involved shooting occurred.”
“The suspect was later pronounced deceased at the hospital,” she said.
She stated that the police were collaborating with the US State Department on the investigation and that “there’s very little information that we can give at this time.”
According to the authorities, it is unknown how many people were present at the workplace when the incident occurred.
Images obtained shortly after the car drove into the embassy show police cordoning off the building in the city’s Japantown area.
The lobby was a shambles, with furniture damaged and queue barriers upturned.
No injuries have been reported from within the consulate.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference will be held in San Francisco next month, and Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to attend.
