Local politicians yesterday called on top law enforcement officials and government agencies to crack down on crime, including illegal possession of firearms, after a string of violent incidents in several cities over the past few days.
Kaohsiung City Councilor Chen Juo-tsui (陳若翠) cited a number of criminal incidents involving firearms, including a car chase with police shooting the suspect to death near the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts on Wednesday last week.
Other city councilors said that public safety has deteriorated, and the public is afraid that gangsters are roaming the streets with concealed weapons.
Photo: Hung Chen-hung, Taipei Times
Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) should visit Kaohsiung and personally supervise the work of law enforcement officers to bolster security measures in the city, they added.
Among the latest violent incidents was a shooting on Sunday in Tashu District (大樹) in which two men were fatally shot.
The main suspect, a 64-year-old man surnamed Fang (方), was arrested yesterday.
Police said that Fang got into a quarrel with his ex-wife, surnamed Chien (簡), over a financial and property dispute.
They tried to negotiate terms at a local temple, but could not reach an agreement.
Fang reportedly left, but allegedly returned on his scooter with a handgun, and a fight broke out, police said.
He allegedly tried to shoot Chien, but the bullets hit Chien’s two friends, surnamed Liu (劉) and Wu (吳), who were mediating the dispute, police said.
Liu and Wu were pronounced dead at a local hospital, they said.
In another development, Taoyuan police yesterday said that they had arrested a man surnamed Chung (鍾) as the main suspect in shootings at several stores over the weekend.
Taoyuan police said they are reviewing more evidence and footage, and are working on catching Chung’s accomplices, as well as cracking down on firearms possession.
In Nantou County’s Puli Township (埔里), a man surnamed Huang (黃) allegedly stabbed a woman to death yesterday, police said.
Huang allegedly got angry when the woman, a Vietnamese who came to Taiwan to work, wanted to end their relationship, they said.
He allegedly stabbed the woman three times and tried to kill himself by drinking pesticide. They were both rushed to a local hospital.
The woman died of her wounds, while Huang was still in intensive care at press time last night, police said.
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