American tourist stabbed at Olympic Games in Beijing

Aug 10 2008 By Euan Hamilton

A KNIFEMAN killed a US Olympic tourist and stabbed another in Beijing yesterday before leaping to his death.

Tang Yongming, 47, killed Todd Bachman on the second floor of the 13thcentury Drum Tower, a popular tourist attraction.

Todd's wife Barbara was in intensive care at Peking Union Medical Hospital last night.

A Chinese woman guide was also injured before the killer, from Hangzhou in the east of the country, jumped from the 157ft landmark.

The motive for the murder - in a country where attacks on foreigners are rare - remains a mystery.

Todd, from Minnesota, was the father of former Olympic volleyball player Elisabeth "Wiz" Bachman, who is married to US men's volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon.

The guide was also being treated in hospital and US embassy officials were sent there. The bloodshed, five miles from the main Olympic arena, came hours after competition started in the capital.

The Games, expected to attract 450,000 visitors, are surrounded by top security, with 150,000 police deployed.

US embassy spokesman Richard Buangan said: "We are working with the family and Chinese authorities."

US Olympic officials said many of the women's volleyball team, who knew Todd through his daughter, were in tears when they were told of his death.

One said: "They were the sweetest family."

AT least one person was killed as a string of explosions rocked China last night.

Several others were critically ill after the blasts in the Muslim region of Xinjiang, where 16 police officers were killed by terrorist bombs last week. Troops were sent to the area yesterday.

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