Person drives into Chinese consulate in San Francisco and is killed by police after confrontation, authorities say

By Christal Hayes and Taylor Romine, CNN

(CNN) — 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 San Francisco police spokesperson.

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 the person was pronounced dead.

The driver was 31-year-old Zhanyuan Yang, the San Francisco chief medical examiner’s office said Thursday. No other details were provided.

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 driver was armed. Winters also did not say whether the crash was intentional or give any other information on 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.”

Videos recorded by witness Sergii Molchanov show people running past a blue car smashed against a wall inside the consulate, which is scattered with debris.

“I was inside waiting for my turn to submit the documents for my visa and suddenly a car in full speed crashed via the main door and hit the wall, just 2 (meters) from where I was sitting,” Molchanov told CNN.

According to Molchanov, the driver exited the car shouting, “Where is CCP?” – an apparent reference to the Chinese Communist Party. The driver then started to fight with security guards, he said.

“Terrified visitors, including myself, ran and then police arrived,” Molchanov added, noting he heard two gunshots.

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.

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CNN’s Amanda Jackson contributed to this report.