first casualty

China is an extremely safe place for tourists, weapons are completely illegal here and there really isn't a big black market for them, meaning you don't have mr crazy shooting up work, or kids bringing weapons to school. You also don't even have violent crime in China (for the most part), you have pick pockets, but the kind that if you caught them they would run away - not mug you.

This is what makes this recent tragedy so shocking. An American tourist was killed at the Drum tower in Beijing over the weekend. He was a family member of one of the coaches with the Men's Volleyball team. Very sad. Apparently, it was a crazy, isolated incident. The attacker was a Chinese man from Hangzhou who following the attack threw himself off the Drum tower, committing suicide. An American woman was also injured in the knife attack, but is recovering at a hospital in Beijing. Very very sad. This is our old neighborhood, where Dom and I lived when we first moved in together. So rare, and so sad. There appears to be no motive beyond craziness, and the attack doesn't seem to be 'targeted' towards Americans in general. This guy probably had no idea where they were from - just foreigners.

The bell tower above is in the same courtyard as the Drum tower. This photo is taken from the 2nd floor of the Drum tower, where the attack happened.