US Citizen Murdered at Beijing Olympics

A relative of the US men's volleyball coach has been killed and another family member seriously injured in an attack in Beijing, the US Olympic Committee has said in a statement.

The man killed was a US citizen and the injured victim was an American woman, Beijing police said in a statement.

The two family members were stabbed during the attack by what local law enforcement authorities have indicated was a lone assailant, the statement said.

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The man attacked the two Americans as well as their Chinese guide at the historic Drum Tower monument, a popular tourist site, at 12:20 pm (local time), the official Xinhua news agency has reported.

After the attack, the assailant then committed suicide by jumping off the second story of the monument.

A Beijing police spokesman has confirmed the tourist had been killed and the other two had been injured, but gave no further details.

Xinhua identified the attacker as Tang Yongming, a 47-year-old man from the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.

The attack occurred despite China deploying massive security in Beijing for the Olympics, with more than 150,000 police and other personnel on patrol across the city.

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An estimated 450,000 foreigners are expected to come to Beijing for the Olympics, which opened on Friday night and will finish on August 24.

The killing also occurred as US President George W Bush was in the city to attend the Games.

A US embassy spokesman, Richard Buangan, said he was aware of the report but could give no details.

"I can tell you that we are working with the family and the Chinese authorities while we speak," Mr Buangan said, declining to comment further.

The Drum Tower is in the historic heart of Beijing. Together with the Bell Tower, the sites were once used for banging of drums and bells to tell time.

Now the Drum and Bell towers are tourist sites, with visitors able to stroll from them to the city's famed old lakes and other historic areas.

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Police closed off the Drum Tower following the incident.

The father-in-law of former Brigham Young men's volleyball player and coach Hugh McCutcheon was stabbed to death Saturday in a shocking attack at an ancient tower near downtown, officials said, casting a sudden pall over the Beijing Olympics only a day after they began.
The attack on Todd Bachman and his wife Barbara -- the parents of McCutcheon's wife, 2004 Olympian Elisabeth Bachman-McCutcheon, who was with them at the time -- occurred just as Hugh McCutcheon was preparing to lead the U.S. men's team, featuring former Cougars Ryan Millar of Highland and Rich Lambourne, into its first match of the Olympics against Venezuela and current Cougar Joel Silva on Sunday.
McCutcheon is the team's head coach.
Officials said a lone Chinese attacker wielding a knife attacked the Bachmans and their Chinese tour guide around noon at the Drum Tower in central Beijing, killing Todd Bachman and seriously injuring Barbara Bachman and their guide before jumping from the tower to his own death.
The U.S. Olympic Committee said Barbara Bachman is being treated for life-threatening injuries at a local hospital, but that Elisabeth Bachman-McCutcheon was not injured. The official state news agency Xinhua identified the attacker at 47-year-old Tang Yongming, from the city of Hangzhou in southeastern China.
"It is impossible to describe the depth of our sadness and shock in this tragic hour," U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth said. "Our delegation comes to the Games as a family, and when one member of our family suffers a loss, we all grieve with them. Our thoughts, prayers and deepest condolences are with the Bachman and McCutcheon families."
USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel said he did not know whether McCutcheon will continue to coach the team, or if there has been any consideration given to postponing or cancelling the match against Venezuela. Seibel said the team was informed of the incident Saturday night, and its response was "as you would expect."
"It's an awful thing," Seibel said. "A terrible tragedy."
The 38-year-old McCutcheon played for the Cougars from 1991-93, and later returned as an assistant coach and top recruiter for head coach Carl McGown, who led the Cougars to national championships in 1999 and 2001. He has been the head coach of the national team since 2005, and McGown is now a team scout who's with the team in Beijing.
Word spread quickly after the attack, surprising many who have observed the massive security build-up for the Olympics. Organizers and government officials here have sought to portray China as a safe nation welcoming of foreign visitors, and the country is known as typically free from attacks on tourists.
"To tell you the truth, this is really a shock because there's so much security here," Annette Busateri, a 31-year-old communications manager from Salt Lake City told The New York Times. "We were told that even at the public markets, there was a lot of security in plainclothes. There are guards everywhere and cameras. So I'm not sure how something like this could happen."

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