A knife-brandishing suspect was fatally shot by Beijing police snipers following a 70-minute standoff in which he held a female security checkpoint worker hostage.
The incident occurred July 19 at Beijing's Hujialou subway station, and was captured on video. The footage, which was posted to Chinese video sharing site Youku, has been viewed more than 3.5 million times since it debuted, according to ChinaSmack.
The video shows a man waving a large knife, then cuts away before police open fire and cuts back to the suspect on the ground.
AsiaOne reports that the man was shot dead by a police sniper. The knife-wielding man's identity has not been released, pending an investigation.
A description of the video from Youku, translated by ChinaSmack, indicates that snipers from the Beijing police SWAT team fired on the suspect after he appeared to harm the hostage.
The Global Times reports that police had offered to exchange an officer for the hostage, which the suspect refused.
Although the video has been edited so that the hostage's face is blurred, what appears to be blood can be seen on her neck and face.
Photos of the aftermath show a blood-stained hostage being escorted from the scene.
AsiaOne reports that the incident provoked inquiry about the level of training received by subway security checkpoint workers. One official noted that checkpoint workers receive little special training with regards to emergencies.