UPDATE, August 10, 2008, from the Associated Press:
Police tightened security Sunday as they investigated the fatal stabbing of the father of a former U.S. Olympian, an attack that stunned the athletic community and embarrassed Chinese authorities determined to hold the most successful Summer Games ever.
Todd and Barbara Bachman of Lakeville, Minnesota — parents of 2004 volleyball Olympian Elisabeth "Wiz" Bachman and in-laws of U.S. men's volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon — were attacked by a Chinese man while visiting the 13th-century Drum Tower on Saturday. The assault came only hours after the spectacular opening ceremony for the games.
The U.S. Olympic Committee confirmed Bachman died from knife wounds and Barbara Bachman suffered life-threatening injuries. She and their Chinese tour guide, who was also injured in the attack, were being treated in a Beijing hospital.
Shortly after the attack, the assailant, Tang Yongming, 47, leapt to his death from a balcony on the Drum Tower, just five miles from the main Olympics site, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Police in Tang's home town of Hangzhou said Sunday the attack was motivated by despair over family problems, Xinhua said.
The Bachman family is in my prayers.
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The U.S. Men's Volleyball Olympic Team has suffered a horrific loss.
From FOX News:
The U.S. Olympic Committee says two relatives of the men's volleyball coach were stabbed in a Beijing attack, leaving one of them dead.
After the attack, the committee released the following statement:
"Our priority in this hour is to attend to the needs of the family members, the U.S. Olympic Men's Indoor Volleyball Team and Staff, and the entire U.S. Olympic Delegation. In addition, the USOC is working closely with the United States Embassy, United States law enforcement authorities and local law enforcement authorities. The United States Olympic Committee will make additional information available when possible."
This is absolutely horrible!
With images of the phenomenal opening ceremonies still fresh, that joy has been shattered by violence.
A Chinese man attacked the two Americans, a man and a woman, and their Chinese tourist guide around 12:20 p.m. on the second level of the Drum Tower, a popular tourist attraction in northern Beijing, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Citing the Beijing Municipal Government Information Office, Xinhua said Tang Yongming, 47, killed the American man and injured both the American woman and the female guide. The attacker was identified by an identity card found on his body, it said.
Tang then "killed himself by jumping from the second story of the Drum Tower," Xinhua said.
...U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Buangan said it was "aware of the reports of the accidents suffered by two American citizens. We are working with the Chinese authorities to find out more on the cause of the incident."
That's a poor choice of words by Buangan.
Tang didn't "accidentally" kill a man and injure two women.
"Accidents" weren't suffered by two American citizens. They were attacked.
...Attacks on foreigners in China are extremely rare.
That's no comfort. It's irrelevant.
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More, from the Associated Press:
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, without giving 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 who were attacked were not wearing anything that would have identified them as Americans or part of the U.S. team. He could not name the coach.
"They 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.
He said it is "too early to say" whether the U.S. delegation or athletes will require additional security.
...The White House said President Bush, who is in Beijing for the opening days of the games, was informed of the incident, and his heart goes out to the families of the victims. It said the administration and the Beijing U.S. embassy have offered those families any assistance they need. Also, U.S. officials have been speaking to Chinese authorities about the incident.
Media are reporting that the attack was random.
NBC's Lester Holt is calling it an "isolated incident" by a "deranged person." Without skipping a beat, he moved right into the pageantry of the opening ceremony.
It was a stunningly awkward segue.
It seemed like an effort to keep the coverage of the Games on a purely positive note, and an attempt to diminish the horror of the crime.
12 comments:
Save your questioning for the later. They should come only after investigations are complete. Your eurocentricism have brought enough shame to both you and your european upbringing.
Anonymous, you give no reason as to why questioning should be saved for later. In fact, questioning has to be done in order to complete the investigations themselves. So there is no logic to your statement. As for your criticism of European culture, at least we don´t eat dogs and execute thousands of people a year like China does. You want to talk about shame? Look in the mirror. And next time, don't be a coward. Sign your comment with your name, not with the spineless ¨anonymous¨.
-Alejandro
its the 5 cents brigade trying to get 5 cents from the Chinese government for distracting a blog conversation.
And I presume the media is trying not to annoy the Chinese administration - it pays not to do that because who knows when you might be delayed on the way to another story for some odd bureaucratic reason by some official with a long memory.
settle down people...
I thought this post was over the top. Then I read the comments and we now have a new winner (or loser?) for the over the top award.
Someone in my neighborhood was recently stabbed and killed. It ended up being a deranged student who needed money for cocaine and ended up killing one of my neighbors during the robbery.
The stabbing a few blocks from my house doesn't say much of anything about my neighborhood, my city, my nation, or my eating habits. Just that sometimes bad things happen in life.
We should try to understand what happened and prevent these things if we can, but most of these events are random and irrational leaving us all to mourn and question while trying to remain calm and rational in the way we respond to such events.
P.S. Cows are sacred in India (and in Wisconsin) and yet we abuse, kill, slaughter, and eat tons of them every year.
P.P.S.S Chinese yearly executions have been falling. The latest total I found was 470 in 2007. The United States, with a much lower population executed 42 prisoners in 2007, but still leads the world with the number of prisoners being held.
anonymous, 9:36 AM, August 09, 2008--
What are you talking about? "European upbringing"? I'm an American, not a European.
Moreover, I commented on the story. What's wrong with that? Do you have a problem with free speech?
The issue here is that while in Beijing for the Olympics, Americans were attacked at a tourist attraction. One was murdered. It's absolutely horrible.
Is the attack a reflection on the one billion+ Chinese? No.
I'm talking about a specific incident that was covered very poorly by NBC this morning.
Later in the day, NBC covered the murder with a bit more respect.
I am a Chinese, I was very sorry to hear this sadness news, it is very bad for Americans and also for Chinese.
The attack was horrible.
All of us, as human beings, whatever our nationality, should be repulsed by such barbarity. We can understand the family's pain and share their sadness.
Tang Yongming is responsible for what he did, not the Chinese people.
Hi you someone called www.peaceisactive.com. Is it just something simply bad in life? I guess you are ignorant of people's suffering and pain from abject living condition. Some people are living without food to eat, without clothes to put on, without books to read while some accumulate a great deal wealth by cheating, corruption..... This deranged man was not born deranged. He was a criminal because he took two lives, while big criminals have taken and now are still taking more lives.
This is a tragedy. The chinese man committing suicide afterwards does not pass the smell test in my opinion. Its just too convenient for the chinese government. If this man had not committed suicide, there would have been world wide attention as to the due process associated with crimes in china, the world would be exposed to the legal process in china not to mention issues such as the death penalty. That would have been a pr nightmare for the chinese gov. I wouldn't be surprised if someone threw this deranged chinese man off the building in order to not expose some of the other larger issues. Were there any witnesses to the man committing suicide & jumping off the building? It would be nice if I was totally off base but with a closed society with limited info flow, isn't your guess as good as mine? Although this was a random horrific event there could have been some thing good out of it if this culprit had not died. Deal with the other side of the equation. Connecting the dots is easy.
Here is another viewpoint.
Some believe that the Chinese Regime is attempting to spread rumors about the incident, linking it with Falun Gong...
http://boycott2008games.blogspot.com/2008/08/is-beijing-trying-to-frame-falun-gong.html
The Chinese regime would be wise to not mention or connect the attack to Falun Gong practitioners.
I wouldn't think the Chinese would want to highlight the atrocities of using political prisoners for live organ harvesting and its black market organ industry.
The notion that this was a random act by a deranged attacker does not "add up." Tang Yongming traveled to Behjing from a smaller city east of Shanghai to "randomly attack" a couple with no identifiable U.S. team apparel, then commits suicide--why? Embarassment? or Revenge? If you are deranged, you don't travel that far to commit suicide. You travel to the capital to embarass the government and the Olympics. His son was in trouble with the Chinese government somehow. I believe he intended to kill a Western tourist to at least bring embarassment to the Chinese Government.
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