Tainan police yesterday provided details behind the arrest of two suspects in two shooting incidents in the city’s Syuejia District (學甲) last month.
Police officers on Wednesday tracked down and arrested suspected gangster Yang Chan-hua (楊展華) and an alleged accomplice, surnamed Kuo (郭).
Police said they had reviewed evidence and telecommunication records, and believe that Yang and a fugitive, Hung Cheng-chun (洪政軍), are the masterminds behind the so-called “Syuejia shootings.”
Photo: CNA
The gunman has been identified as Kung Hsiang-chih (孔祥志), they said.
Kung had left Taiwan after the shooting on Nov. 10.
Investigators found that Kung, Yang and Hung are friends who grew up together in Syuejia, and had formed a criminal ring, Tainan Police Department Deputy Chief Wu Ching-tien (吳敬田) said.
A wanted bulletin has been issued for Hung, an alleged gangster in Tainan nicknamed “Red Turtle” (紅龜), Wu said, adding that sources indicate that he was hiding in Tainan.
Kuo was in charge of preparing scooters to help Kung flee after the shooting, Wu said.
He is a member of another gang based in the city’s Annan District (安南), and the two groups likely colluded on the incident to muscle in on land development projects with millions of dollars in financial benefits, Wu said.
Police investigators said that working under the instructions of Hung and Yang, Kung went to a company building in Syuejia owned by a Tainan politician and riddled the place with 58 bullets.
Riding a scooter, Kung then allegedly headed to the Syuejia service office of independent Tainan City Councilor Hsieh Tsai-wang (謝財旺) and blasted its front with 30 bullets.
The shootings have raised public concern about safety, with the opposition politicians accusing Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) of the Democratic Progressive Party of negligence.
Kung reportedly was paid NT$500,000 for the job, and later that day boarded a flight out of the country.
He is believed to have been taken in by Taiwanese gangsters operating in Cambodia, while other main figures in the case went into hiding.
Prosecutor-General Hsing Tai-chao (邢泰釗) yesterday convened a meeting with the heads of major police jurisdictions to review the Syuejia shooting case, and ordered all police units to be on alert.
He called for the swift arrest of Hung, who has a criminal record that includes shooting and seriously injuring several people.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by