By Keyang Pang
A man opened fire Tuesday morning outside the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles then turned his gun on himself, authorities said.
The shooting was reported about 6 a.m. in the 400 block of Shatto Place. The man, a Chinese national, in his 60s, fired “multiple rounds” at the consulate building, then died in his vehicle at the shooting scene, said Officer Mike Lopez, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman.
Investigators said no one else was injured in the shooting.
In response to a question about the shooting, China Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said “the Chinese side takes this incident seriously and has already made serious representations with the United States. China requires the United States to solve the case as soon as possible and take concrete and effective measures to ensure the security of the Chinese diplomatic missions, institutes and personnel in the United States”.
After two days into the investigation, Los Angeles Police Department released a statement to update on this shooting and suicide in front of Chinese Consulate:
On Monday, August 1, 2017, at about 6:00 a.m., the Los Angeles Police Department received numerous calls of a shooting in progress at the Chinese Consulate, in the 400 block of Shatto Place. LAPD officers arrived at the scene and observed a male suspect seated in his vehicle and also identified numerous casings and bullet impacts into the Chinese Consulate nearby.
Officers removed the suspect from the vehicle and saw that he had an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The officers recovered a handgun near the suspect and evaluated the situation to determine if there were any additional victims, which there were none. After securing the area LAFD personnel pronounced the suspect dead at the scene. He has been identified as 62-year old Larry Xin Zhang.
While this incident is still under investigation, there have been several erroneous reports that this individual was linked to a previous shooting in 2011, however at this time those assumptions appear to be false. Investigators believe this was a single isolated incident.
Anyone with information on this shooting should contact West Bureau Homicide investigators at (213) 382-9470. Lieutenant John Radtke, OIC West Bureau Homicide.
