Unknown driver crashes car inside Chinese consulate in San Francisco; shot dead

The driver of a car that crashed through the Chinese consulate in San Francisco and into the lobby of the building's visa office was shot and killed by police on Monday, according to the municipal police.

The police claimed they did not yet know the name of the driver or what caused the collision, and the official information about the incident was vague. Nobody else who might have been hurt in the the incident was mentioned.

At a news conference held hours later, San Francisco Police Department spokesperson Sergeant Kathryn Winters said, "I don't know how many people were inside the visa office at the time of the collision."

"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."

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Police were coordinating with investigators from the U.S. State Department, she said, adding: "There's very little information that we can give at this time."

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 went on to say that it "strongly condemns this violent attack and reserves the right to pursue responsibility for the incident."