KILLING SPREE: The
attack was allegedly carried out by a student, who told police he had always
wanted to ‘do something big’ and allegedly showed no signs of remorse
By Stacy Hsu / Staff writer,
with CNA
A 21-year-old
student allegedly
killed four people and injured 22 yesterday in a random killing spree on a train of the Taipei Mass
Rapid Transit (MRT) system’s Bannan Line.
The four
victims were a 47-year-old woman, a 62-year-old woman and two men aged 20 and
30. They had reportedly lost all vital signs before they were rushed to the New Taipei City Hospital ’s
Banciao Branch, the Taipei Hospital and the Far Eastern
Memorial Hospital
It was the
first deadly attack on an MRT train since the Taipei
The suspect,
who has been identified as Cheng Chieh (鄭捷) from Greater Taichung’s Tunghai University,
allegedly started attacking passengers around him with a 30cm -long fruit knife while the train was
traveling between the Longshan Temple Station and the Jiangzicui Station at
approximately 4:26pm.
He was apprehended by security
guards, police officers and other passengers shortly after the train stopped at
the Jiangzicui Station, from where he was taken to the Jiangzicui police
station for questioning.
According to
New Taipei City Police Department Director-General Chen Kuo-en (陳國恩), Cheng boarded an MRT
train heading to the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center at the Jiangzicui Station
earlier in the afternoon and alighted
at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Station.
He
subsequently hopped on
the ill-fated train
heading to the Banciao Station before carrying out the killing spree, Chen
added.
“The suspect
told us that he had since elementary school wanted to ‘do something big’ and
that he had shared the idea with some of his high-school and college
classmates,” Chen said.
Chen said
Cheng originally planned to execute
the idea after he graduated from university, but decided to move it forward to
yesterday after giving it some thought last week.
“He bought
two fruit knives of different sizes from a supermarket before he boarded the
trains… His blood-alcohol content registered 0.04mg/L and he has no medical
records of mental illness,” Chen said.
“He showed no
signs of remorse
during questioning,” Chen added.
Taipei Mayor
Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said that
for the next two weeks, the city government planned to deploy 80 special police
officers to MRT stations to conduct routine patrols, to assist the 143 MRT police officers.
“Our priority
is to restore order and security at MRT stations to make sure that our
passengers do not feel afraid when taking the metro,” Hau said.
New Taipei
City Deputy Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said the
city government had instructed all available police officers to patrol the
areas surrounding the city’s 34 MRT stations shortly after the incident, in an effort to tighten
security.
Taipei Rapid
Transit Corp (台北捷運公司) general
manager Tan Gwa-guang (譚國光) said the
company would give NT$4 million (US$132,000) in compensation to the families of the victims and
would take care of all medical expenses incurred by the injured passengers.
Structure of the Lead：
WHO- A 21-year-old student
WHEN- yesterday
WHAT- allegedly killed four people and injured 22
WHY- wanted to
‘do something big’
WHERE- on a train of the
Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system’s Bannan Line.
HOW- in a random killing spree
Keywords：
1.
allegedly：據稱
2.
killing spree：殺人狂魔
3.
apprehend：緝拿
4.
alight at：下車
5.
hopped on：跳上
6.
ill-fated：命運多舛
7.
execute：執行
8.
remorse：自責
9.
patrols：巡邏
10.
in an effort to：為了要…；努力去….
11.
compensation：補償
