Video of fatal SF police shooting at Chinese Consulate released

Friday, October 20, 2023
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- For the first time, we're seeing San Francisco police body camera video showing the moments leading up to a fatal police shooting at the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco.

It happened last week and the case involved an armed man, 31-year-old Zhanyuan Yang, who is believed to have deliberately driven into the consulate.

Yang was shot and killed by police and is seen on video with a knife in his hand. Officers say they were responding to reports that he was armed with a gun.

Yang was seen crashing his vehicle into the consulate. Minutes later, security guards deployed pepper spray in his direction.

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When San Francisco police arrive, Yang has one arm over his eyes and his other hand has a knife in it. He's waving it back and forth through the air and, seconds later, he is shot.

During a town hall meeting, ABC7 News asked Chief Bill Scott if the department would review their policy, saying it appears as though the man can't see anything as he's waving the knife. This is the chief's response:

"We evaluate every case from a tactical perspective to see what we can learn from this to evolve and get better if we ever have this incident again, and this will be no exception. What I will say though, in fairness, we don't really know what this person could see or not see. And at that point officers, remember the call was that the person had a gun, and in fairness to the situation, we don't know what he could or couldn't see."

A loaded crossbow was also found in the backseat of Yang's car, along with two 40 caliber fired cartridge casings.

As for why Yang was there, police won't say. Witnesses have previously told ABC7 News he was asking, or demanding, to see those with the CCP, which is short for the Chinese Communist Party.

If you're on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live
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