CNN
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A person who crashed a vehicle into the Chinese consulate in San Francisco Monday was shot and killed after being confronted by police in the lobby, authorities said.
The person was driving around 3:09 p.m. PT and crashed into the lobby area of the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China, which handles visas, according to Sgt. Kathryn Winters, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department.
Police responded within minutes of the wreck and confronted the driver in the lobby, shooting the person, Winters said. The driver was taken to a local hospital where they were pronounced dead.
It’s unclear how many people were inside the consulate when the incident happened but Winters said no one else appeared to be injured.
At a news conference Monday evening, Winters declined to say why police opened fire or whether the person killed was armed. Winters also did not say whether the crash was intentional or give any other information on the person or the incident.
A spokesperson for the Consulate General of China in San Francisco released a statement saying the crash caused “serious damage” to the building and put people in “serious threat” of being injured or killed. The statement added the consulate “strongly condemns” the incident and called for an investigation to be “carried out expeditiously and dealt with seriously in accordance with the law.”
San Francisco police said they and officials from the US State Department are working with the Chinese consulate.
The consulate is located in the city’s Japantown area, several blocks northeast from The Painted Ladies, a row of colorful Victorian homes that is popular attraction in the Bay Area city.
Winters said authorities are working to determine what agency would lead the investigation into the incident.
“This is a unique investigation because it did happen inside the lobby of the Chinese consulate so there’s a number of agencies and jurisdictions that are involved, so this is far different than our normal officer-involved shooting,” Winters said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
