Americans With Olympics Attacked, Killed By Chinese

While security around the main venues for the Olympics in China is extremely tight, other areas of China, including popular tourist attractions, are left with little to no security, leaving international visitors and Olympic athletes open to attack.

Two relatives of U.S. Olympic men’s indoor volleyball head coach Hugh McCutcheon were stabbed on Saturday, August 9, 2008 around 12:20 in the afternoon at the Drum Tower, an ancient monument in downtown Beijing in Xian, less than five miles from the Beijing Olympic Stadium.

The Chinese attacker, 47 year old Tang Yongming from Hangzhou in eastern China, jumped to his death from the tower after the attack. Tang Yongming was recently divorced and had not been seen by relatives for two months; the rest of his background is still being investigated.
Stabbed to death was the coach’s father-in-law, 62 year old Todd Bachman of Lakeville, Minnesota; his mother-in-law 62 year old Barbara Bachman was also attacked and her injuries are reported to be serious and life threatening.

Elisabeth Bachman McCutcheon, herself a 2004 U.S. Olympic women’s indoor volleyball player, is the wife of coach Hugh McCutcheon, and was with her parents when they were attacked and her father murdered. She was not hurt.

At least one of the Americans is reported to have been wearing the team’s Volleyball pin.

Chinese officials have decided this has not provoked any need for any modification in security.

The U.S. Olympic men’s indoor volleyball is due to play on Sunday August 10, 2008, and it is currently undecided if they will play their match. The women’s team was informed of the attack, since both teams are very close. The U.S. women’s indoor volleyball team went on to claim an emotional four-set win over Japan today, a day marked by the tragic news that the father of their former Olympic teammate Elisabeth Bachman-McCutcheon was murdered nearby earlier in the day.

These folks were marked IMO. This Chinese fellow “Tang Yongming” or “Tang Yong-ming”, whatever the spelling of the moment may be, arrived at the Drum Tower carrying the knife on his person. He had a plan.

What was it, and why them? Why this 62 year-old American married couple Todd and Barbara McCutcheon?

Chinese officials went out of their way to state that 47 year-old Tang Yongming was identified via an ID card located on his person. Am I alone in thinking the identification of the killer may be in question?

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