Man stabs passengers aboard Taiwan train
Moments after his train left a station in
Taipei on Wednesday, a young Taiwanese man randomly stabbed passengers before
his violent fury ended when he was forced to the ground, police said.
At least four people were killed and 22
others injured in the incident -- the first such attack since the East Asian
nation's mass rapid transit (MRT) system opened in 1996, media in Taiwan and
nearby Hong Kong reported.
According to police, the suspect, a
21-year-old college student, began attacking people 20 seconds after his train
left Longshan Temple Station in Taipei.
Staff were alerted something was wrong after
people hit an emergency button, and the train stopped at the next station,
Jiangzicui.
Police blockade the scene at
Jiangzicui station.
The man was subdued by Taipei City Police
"along with MRT staff and courageous passengers," the Taipei City
Police Department said in a press release.
The suspect was identified as Cheng Chieh, a
second-year environmental engineering student at Tunghai University in
Taichung, Taiwan's third largest city.
Cheng had been considering the attack for
some time, a police spokesperson told reporters after the incident.
During questioning by police, Cheng said he
had wanted to do "something big," like killing on the train network,
when he was in elementary school, according to the director-general of New
Taipei City's police department, Chen Kuo-en. Later, when the suspect was in
high school and college, he told his classmates of the idea, Chen said.
Cheng had no medical record of mental
illness, according to the police director-general. But the 1.vice president of
Cheng's university said there were indications from the student's activities on
social media that he could be mentally unstable.
"We got a tip from his former high
school classmates around the end of April, and that tip said the 2.alleged killer
posted something on his Facebook page saying 'I'm going to do something
big,'" Tunghai University Vice President Tsai Jen-Teng told CNN.
The college arranged a formal 3.counseling 4.session for Cheng on May 9 but he failed to show up, Tsai said. Several days
later, he attended another meeting with a military officer, and "seemed to
be acting quite normally," he said.
Cheng transferred to Tunghai University last
summer after struggling to maintain his grades at a military academy. "He
failed over half of his courses," Tsai said.
He lived in the Taipei area, close to where
the stabbing occurred, according to Tsai.
Tsai said the university received no other
indication from Cheng's college classmates that he had been acting unusually:
"We were really surprised."
The university has opened its chapel for
people to pay their respects and pray for the victims and their families.
"We are really sad and thinking about the families who have been
affected," Tsai said.
Before he boarded the train, Cheng 5.allegedly
bought two fruit knives from a supermarket, the New Taipei City Police
Department director-general said, adding that the suspect showed no signs of
remorse for the attack.
The incident has sparked a debate online
about whether the death penalty is appropriate punishment for such attacks. A
Facebook group named "Indefinitely supporting death penalty
for Cheng Chieh" had over 32,000 "likes" as of
Thursday.
Several Facebook fan pages supporting Cheng
have appeared following the stabbing, with names like "Go Cheng Chieh"
and "Love Cheng Chieh fans'
special page." However, many more netizens have 6.rallied against
these support pages, calling on users to report the sites and flood them with
negative comments.
Since the incident, city police announced
they had taken several steps to 7.bolster security on the rapid transit system,
including deploying 80 special officers at stations and aboard trains.
Website: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/21/world/asia/taiwan-train-stabbing/index.html?iref=allsearch
When: May 21, 2014
Where: Taipei's subway.
Who: Cheng Chieh
What: Cheng Chieh randomly stabbed passengers, 4 people were killed and 22 people injured
How: Taipei city has increased the security of Taipei's subway.
Keywords:
- vice 副
- alleged 所謂的
- counseling 輔導服務
- session 會議
- allegedly 據稱
- rallied 反彈
- bolster 撐腰
It' s unfair to those innocent people killed in the event.To their family, it's unacceptable that they died this way. This event shocked all Taiwanese and it's totally a tragedy.
回覆刪除This event has caused many people's horror and there are also many similar event happened around the world. Nobody can guarantee everyone is safe when going out,so I think that government should enhance security near the public transportation.
回覆刪除The man's behavior is awful, and after the event broke out, many people imitate him to attack others.
回覆刪除I think the government should do something to restrain alike things from happening.
What he has done do stun everyone.We really need to pay more attention to the people behaving strange.Also,the government must take actions and keep an eye on the public security.
回覆刪除