The Supreme Prosecutors Office yesterday announced it is closing its investigation into the 319 assassination attempt, bringing an end to a saga that has sharply polarized the nation for almost a year and a half.
Investigators have concluded that retired construction worker Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄) was entirely responsible for shooting President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) on March 19 last year, and that he committed suicide shortly after the failed assassination attempt.
"The 319 assassination task force has completed an investigation report which concludes that the assassination attempt was not staged by President Chen or Vice President Lu, and that Chen and Lu were shot while leading a motorcade in Tainan City on the afternoon of March 19," State Public Prosecutor-General Wu Ying-chao (
"Chen Yi-hsiung, who was unsatisfied with the political situation and Chen's government, fired two shots toward the president. One bullet hit Chen [Shui-bian] and another bullet hit Lu, but Lu was not his target," Wu said.
"Chen Yi-hsiung committed the assassination attempt by himself, and no other suspect has been found," Wu said.
Wu, however, admitted that the task force had been unable to find the gun used in the shooting.
Implausible theories
Refuting charges that the president may have somehow wounded himself in a bid to tilt the following day's election in his favor, the investigation report released yesterday said police found two large, fresh bloodstains on Chen Shui-bian's underwear as he was being transported to Chi Mei Hospital soon after the shots were fired.
"The fresh gunshot wound signified that it is impossible that Chen made a false wound before the accident occurred," the investigation report states.
The report says that according to the bullets' trajectory, the shots were fired from a spot opposite to Chen and Lu's vehicle, so it is also impossible that the president's or vice president's guards intentionally shot at the vehicle.
Regarding the allegation that Chen and Lu somehow intentionally wounded themselves at the hospital, the report states that not a single staff member, presidential guard or vice-presidential guard has said anything that would back up that charge.
Unhappy man
The report says Chen Yi-hsiung's motive in the assassination attempt was his extreme disgust and anger toward the government. He said in a note before March 19 that he hated the fact that Chen Shui-bian would likely be re-elected, the report said.
The report said a security camera near the site of the shooting in Tainan City filmed a middle-aged, partially bald male in a yellow jacket walking quickly and nervously away from the site of the shooting immediately after it occurred. On March 26 last year, police publicized the man's picture and asked him to report to police, but he never appeared.
The report said Chen Yi-hsiung's wife told investigators "when the police published the picture of a baldheaded man with a yellow coat, I watched it on TV and asked my husband `Is that you?' and `Did you do this?'"
Chen Yi-hsiung responded that "it was his own business and that he would handle this," according to his wife. She said her husband had burned the yellow coat in his house the very day police published the picture, the report added.
According to the report, Chen Yi-hsiung's wife admitted that her husband was out when the shooting occurred.
"When he came home that evening, he was quiet and seemed lost in thought," Chen's wife told investigators.
On March 29 last year, Chen Yi-hsiung's drowned corpse was found at the An-Ping Port (
Other evidence
In addition to Chen Yi-hsiung family's statements, the report also said that last September, police identified Tang Shou-yi (
Police then looked for people who had bought arms from Tang. In March, police discovered that Chen Yi-hsiung had bought a pistol and bullets from Tang.
But the second son of Chen Yi-hsiung denied yesterday that his father was the would-be assassin.
"No direct evidence points to my father as a suspect, so in my mind, my father absolutely was not involved," the son told reporters.
also see story:
Chen, Lu accept results of assassination investigation
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS