A driver who crashed into the Chinese consulate in San Francisco has been shot dead by police.
Officers were called to the scene after the car ploughed through the consulate’s visa office near Laguna Street on Monday afternoon.
“I don’t know how many people were inside the visa office at the time of the collision,” San Francisco Police Department spokesperson Sergeant Kathryn Winters told reporters at a news briefing hours later.
“When officers arrived here on scene, they found the vehicle had come to rest inside the lobby of the Chinese Consulate. Officers entered, made contact with the suspect and an officer-involved shooting occurred,” Winters said.
“The suspect was later pronounced deceased at the hospital. This is an open and active investigation.”
Witnesses told media outlets that multiple gunshots had been fired in the incident and that a bloodied man was loaded into an ambulance and driven from the scene.
No one else was injured in the incident.
Police advised people on social media to avoid the area.
The Chinese diplomatic post in San Francisco issued a statement saying an “unidentified person drove violently into the document hall of the consulate, posing a serious threat to the safety of the staff and people at the scene, and causing serious damage to the facilities and property of the consulate”.
The consulate added that it “strongly condemns this violent attack and reserves the right to pursue responsibility for the incident”.
They said the consular certificate hall will be temporarily closed from October 10.
