American Tourist Killed In Beijing then attacker commits Suicide.....
 

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/...n4335177.shtml



(CBS/ AP) A knife-wielding Chinese man attacked two relatives of a coach for the U.S. Olympic men's volleyball team at a tourist site in Beijing, killing one and injuring the other on the first day of the Olympics Saturday, team officials and state media said.

The man then committed suicide by throwing himself from the second story of the site, the 13th century Drum Tower just five miles the main Olympics site.

The brutal attack shortly after midday was all the more shocking because of the rarity of violent crime in tightly controlled China, which has ramped up security measures even more for the Olympics.

The stabbing came only hours after what by many accounts was the most spectacular opening ceremony in Olympic history and has already dampened some of the enthusiasm.

"They are deeply saddened and shocked," Darryl Seibel, a spokesman for the U.S. Olympic Committee, said of the volleyball team.

President Bush, who is in Beijing for the Games, has been informed "and his heart goes out to the families of the victims," a White House official told CBS News. The White House said the administration and the U.S. Embassy have offered the families of the victims any assistance they need.

The U.S. Olympic Committee said in a statement that two family members of a coach for the men's indoor volleyball team were stabbed at the Drum Tower "during an attack by what local law enforcement authorities have indicated was a lone assailant."

One of the family members was killed and the other was seriously injured, it said. It did not identify the coach or give other details.

The official Xinhua News Agency identified the attacker as Tang Yongming, 47, from the eastern city of Hangzhou. It said Tang attacked the two Americans and their Chinese tour guide, who was also injured, at 12:20 p.m. on the second level of the ancient tower, then leapt to his death immediately afterward. The second level of the tower is about 130 feet high.

Seibel said the two Americans "were not wearing apparel or anything that would have specifically identified them as being members of our delegation" or as Americans.

He told The Associated Press it was "too early to say" whether the U.S. delegation or athletes will require additional security.

Some athletes were already thinking about it.

Jennie Finch, a member of the U.S. softball team, said her heart skipped a beat when she heard about the attack, but was undaunted.

"I'm here with my husband and son, so it's not easy but we're living our dreams and we're not going to live in fear," she said. "We're going to go out there every day and enjoy every day and celebrate it."

U.S. Embassy officials said they were in contact with relatives of the victims who are in Beijing. "Out of respect for the families involved, we can't say more than that," embassy spokesman Don Q. Washington told reporters.

At the scene, police blocked off streets leading to the Drum Tower and cordoned off the area with yellow police tape. Officers collected samples from the tower and the street below.

The exact details of the attack, including the weapon used, were not clear.

"There was a fight here, don't ask me any more questions," an old lady who would only give her surname, Wang, said near the site.

Attacks on foreigners in China are extremely rare. A Canadian model was murdered last month in Shanghai, but police said that was because she stumbled onto a burglary.

In March, a screaming, bomb-strapped hostage-taker who commandeered a bus with 10 Australians aboard in the popular tourist city of Xi'an was shot to death by a police sniper.

Shanghai and Beijing are still safer than most foreign cities of their size. Punishments for crimes against foreigners are heavier than for crimes against Chinese, and police-linked neighborhood watch groups are highly vigilant. Chinese are not allowed to own guns.

Even so, the U.S. government now warns Americans against muggings, beatings and even carjackings, especially in the nightlife and shopping districts of large cities.

Built in the 13th century, the Drum Tower is one of few ancient structures still in fast-developing Beijing. Drummers pounded their massive instruments on the hour to let people in the imperial city know the time. It is located on an important central axis of the city, to the north of the Forbidden City, the former home of the emperor.

International Olympic Committee spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said it was "deeply saddened" by the attack and was working with Chinese authorities to provide whatever assistance it could.

The killer was a prominent member of the Chinese Olympic "Stabbing and Suicide" team.

Tragic, but sounds like an isolated incident by a lone crazy.

I hope it dosnt interfere with that coaches coaching...

This right here is one reason china should never have been chosen for the olympics...

I dont find America all that "civilized" - but China? Are you fucking serious? Its like China is so shitty, horrible atmosphere. Shitty Air. Shitty Water. Like nothing youve ever seen before. Their culture is pretty whack too! Shunning most all girls if not just throwing them away at birth.

All this shit, and the world decides, "Hey, lets give CHina the opportunity to be involved in something special." Well, Look what happens on the first day!!!

That shit wont dosnt happen here or sydney or france...

Next you know they will be announcing an upcoming Olympics to be held in North Korea..




Just let China go back to being a complete shit hole...


China isnt bad to China... But I just dont see it being a good idea to hold an event like the olympics there... Gathering every kind of person in a culturally crazed world... youre asking for trouble...

No country should be excluded from the Olympics. It is a truly international competition, where the entire world should be allowed to participate. I actually consider the concept of a WORLD-WIDE competition to be extremely exciting.

I agree with that... but ask evreyone to congregate in a worldy unstable atmosphere?

Im just talking about holding the events in these places...

I know my statement sounds a little unfair, it does even to me...

But I think I'm right...

could have happened anywhere.

Another reason that it shouldn't have been held there

Very true but if you ask me China is poised to snap. With so many more males than females many men will go off the deep end eventually.

with the USA on the verge of economic collapse the same can be said with all those who are losing their jobs, homes, spouses and so on.

How is this any different than the idiot American who had a pipe bomb in Atlanta? Glass houses....

very true...

Im racist i guess...

the world is fucked up.. dont know what else to say

i wonder, if cheater Chinies government will do something bad for miss inform/dis inform world wide about Uyghur Turks from East Turkestan (Sinkiang-Uyghur)

Especially after 9/11 China keep talking shit about Uyghur Turks and Trying to show them as al qaeda Terrorists for covering what Chinies government does bad at East Turkestan and want to get support of west for this government/State Terrorism

That's so sad:( Poor coach trying to live his dream and his family gets killed at the same time. I wonder if he'll still want to or be able to coach during this event after such a tragedy.

Crazy people... :(

I heard he scored a 9.8 on the dive. Didn't quite stick the landing which cost him.

I have a feeling the targets were not random

Yes, I heard he had smuggled one of those new "see thru suitcases" into the country. They had no choice but to take him out. :pimp

The reason China is so shitty is because they have been hidden away in their own special shroud of secrecy away from the rest of the world for too long.

They needed an event like the Olympics to shine some light on their flaws and to help them to fix many of them.

China will be a different country by the end of the games.

For what I've read and heard, they are only pushing it aside and hiding it for now...

I sure as shit hope they continue on...

LOL what? China has lifted 300 million people out of poverty in their country and you are moaning about one stabbing, sure it is a bad incident but you have no right to complain about that, coming from a country where police men mowed down a black man just after his wedding with 42 shots in new york.

It's obvious you don't fret about details... since you got them all wrong.

Carry on.

:thumbsup

At the end of the day, how can someone from America or Canada complain about another country? It's just terribly ironic

go back and read my statement...

let me elaborate on "I don't find America all that "civilized" - but China?"

America is fucked up. We have some of the worst racism out there. Because we have a mix of every kind of racism. Crime - Shit, we are in the top 5, I'm sure. But, things that go on in China are completely cruel and truly uncivilized. They are hiding their true nature surroundings for the sake of their worldly image. I read that the rivers are being died with color so they look normal. The clouds are being shot with dust and chemicals to both defeat rain but also their atrocious smog. Their orphanages, mostly consisting of female beaten and forgotten children, pushed aside and hidden during the travel time. This of course is all stuff I have read and researched. But I even heard boneprone talking about adopting a daughter from china and is was so hard right now for that very reason of it being hard to even deal with orphanages right now.

I am only saying their "civilized nature" on a whole compared to our on a whole is a couple notches down. I may be mistaken on my previous statement about why even having the olympics there, thats a bit harsh. But, my main point still stands.

It wasn't a direct personal attack on you sorry if i came out that way but everyone for weeks has been bashing China for no reason, i find it hard to believe what you said about China being completley cruel and uncivilized without a good source unless you have been there yourself.

Look at Chinas response to their devistating earthquake, it was top notch and brilliant. Compare that to Bushes response to Katrina

Look at how they got praised by the climate organizations by saying China done all in it's power to remove the smog

Give them some credit, they have all pulled together and pulled it off. :D

Napoleon once said about China: "Let her sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world"

When was the last time you turned CNN off long enough to actually go to China.. hell Tibet even? Thought so.

The China you hear about in the western media isn't the China I saw.

But no .. please .. you were busy telling us how bad China was from your own inexperience .. please continue.

i wonder if there is some motive ie: he gets the relatives of a "coach" maybe this was all done to sway the coach and outcome?

Yet there are still tens of thousands of families in china who are so poor they are selling their children.

I'm going to go and assume you've never actually been to China.

Most of China is actually a pretty typical country with an emerging economy. Nice people, great food, lots of poverty but also a quickly growing middle class, lots of business going on, etc.

People seem to forget that China is still a communist country. Free markets are supposed to be a no-no.

He was divorced 2 times, what a killer...

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

spy games......

Jeez, what a horrible thing to happen

id like all of you to go back and read my words - two more times if necessary.

I'm not saying look at me/us - my shit dont stink!!!

I'm pointing out, as I said, things i know to be true through, yes I said it, research, word of mouth and media.

I let my racism show... as miniscule as it is, I admit I see some cultures in a bad light. I would never act on something i thought nor would i categorize a whole race or nation. But I can, like others, think what I want about the an overall culture or nation as a whole.

So, since, no, I haven't been there... Kindly tell me... am I wrong about the orange and red rivers? Am i wrong about the pollution that exceeds the US? Am I wrong about the orphanages mainly consisting of female children? Am I wrong that the nation as a whole treats their little girls at a lower lvl than boys?

Yes every country has its poverty issues and what not, But is my statement wrong in saying that, Even as America, The slobby, childish, racist, selfish, culturally defunct nation that we are... were in a better atmosphere - all around - than China?

If you had to choose between the two... living in the poverty stricken streets of china? or the poverty stricken streets of USA?

:helpme:helpme:helpme

Id give it a 9.5 personally... :helpme

i supply ammo to china