Man in Los Angeles opens fire at Chinese consulate before killing himself

A man, believed to be a Chinese national, opened fire at a consulate building in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning (1 August) and later killed himself in his car, police said.

Officer Michael Lopez of the Los Angeles Police Department said that there were no injuries reported in the shooting, which took place at around 6am local time (2pm BST) before the Chinese consulate was open for the day.

The man was found dead in his car from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Lopez added.

Police could not immediately provide any additional information about the shooting or the man's possible motive. Lopez said homicide detectives were conducting an investigation.

In a short statement, the Chinese consulate said it was extremely concerned about the incident. The consulate has asked the US to take all necessary measures to protect the security of the building and diplomats working there according to Reuters. China has also asked the US to get to the bottom of the incident.

In 2011, a naturalized US citizen originally from China was arrested after police said he fired nine shots at a security guard outside the same consulate.

There were no injuries in that incident and police said at the time that the man was protesting China's human rights record.

In 2014, Yan Feng, 39, a Chinese man confessed setting fire to the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, claiming he was driven by voices, the FBI had said.

Yan told detectives he drove to the consulate carrying two buckets of gasoline, poured them onto the diplomatic compound's front door and tried to start a fire using his passport, an FBI affidavit said.