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 downstairs 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.”
San Francisco Police Department’s Sergeant Kathryn Winters said officers responded after being alerted to the vehicle having crashed into the visa office.
“Officers entered, made contact with the suspect and an officer-involved shooting occurred,” Winters told reporters.
Officers, paramedics and medics had tried to save the suspect’s life, but that the person was pronounced dead at the hospital some time later, Winters said, adding the police could give no details about the suspect’s identity.
The local ABC7 News channel said its crews had seen a man covered in blood and apparently unresponsive being taken away from the scene.
