A college student surnamed Lee (李) reportedly heard of the intentions of the supposed Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) assailant Cheng Chieh (鄭捷) to carry out a killing spree hours before it took place on Wednesday, but did not inform anyone, local media reported yesterday.
Cheng, 21, is the suspect in the deaths on Wednesday of four passengers and assaults on 24 others on a Taipei MRT train at 4:26pm on the Bannan line. He was detained by police and MRT staff.
“I could not tell if he really meant to do it,” Lee, interviewed by prosecutors on Friday, was quoted by the Chinese-language China Times as saying. “I very much value my friendship with Cheng. If I told someone what he said, I was afraid of losing this friendship.”
The China Times report added that Lee was Cheng’s only close friend. They had been classmates at Hongdao Junior High School in Taipei.
Just two hours before the alleged MRT attack, Cheng met Lee at a fast-food restaurant.
Lee, whose family told police he is an introvert and has autistic tendencies, was quoted by police as saying that Cheng had talked about killing people many times, and that he could only try to dissuade him from having such thoughts because he could not tell whether Cheng meant it.
He said in the past six months, Cheng had talked more frequently about killing people, but “I did not report this to the police, because I did not know if he was talking ‘for real’ or not.”
Lee said that Cheng called him around 2pm on Wednesday and said to meet him at a McDonald’s restaurant on Wenhua Road in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋).
“At first, Cheng started talking about playing Tower of Saviors and League of Legends and other combat video games,” Lee said, then after about half an hour, Cheng said he had to leave.
Lee said that before he left, Cheng told him: “It’s about that time now. I have to pull my emotions together. Right after this, I will start the action.”
Lee said he knew Cheng was talking about killing people, “but I heard him talk about this countless times since our school days, so I did not pay particular notice this time.”
Cheng was also quoted by Lee as saying that he had a lot of stress from academic demands and job hunting, and that he was thinking about suicide.
After questioning at his local police precinct on Thursday, Lee was taken to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday for more questioning and was released.
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
RSS