LOS ANGELES — A Chinese-born activist has been booked for attempted murder over a shooting at China's consulate in Los Angeles after a human rights protest there, police said Friday.
Jeff Baoliang Zhang, a 67-year-old originally from Shanghai, turned himself in to police a few hours after Thursday's shooting, which left a number of bullet holes in the front of the diplomatic building.
"A lone gunman fired several shots at the local Chinese consulate after participating in a protest at the location earlier in the day," the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement.
"Acting independently from the other protesters, he opened fire on the consulate building and then drove away in his car."
The LAPD said it appeared the suspect was acting alone.
The Los Angeles Times reported that a protester fired a total of nine shots at a security guard outside the consulate, following an altercation with him, missing his target and hitting a building in the compound instead.
Zhang, who has apparently become a naturalized US citizen and now lives in Las Vegas, turned himself in at a nearly police station about three hours after the shooting.
"Police... confiscated his weapon, a 9mm handgun, and booked him for attempted murder," the newspaper, adding that bail had been set at $100,000, and Zhang was being held at a downtown LAPD detention center.
The consulate has so far declined to respond to requests for information about the incident.
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