Second Tainan murder suspect caught

Tainan police yesterday arrested a suspect in Thursday night's highway murder case and admitted that they had arrested the wrong man on Friday night.

Tainan County Police Chief Huang Fu-sheng (黃富生) admitted the mistake and said he had personally apologized.

"I apologized to Chen Jung-chi [陳榮吉, who was arrested on Friday] and his family," Huang said.

Huang said police and prosecutors had contacted the Tainan District Court to secure Chen's release.

Chen had told police he was at a night market in Chiayi on Thursday evening and had gone home at 10pm. He said he did not drive on the highway.

Chen's mother had told local reporters that her child is mentally retarded and could not possibly have committed the crime.

Huang said police had learned that Chen received a cellphone call around the time that the highway murder was committed. As the call was received by a cellphone station in Chiayi and not in Tainan County where the murder took place, Chen could not have committed the crime, Huang said.

Eyewitnesses

Chen had been apprehended because two police officers and a female witness had identified him as being in the car with primary suspect Shih Kuo-ching (石國慶), Huang said.

Witnesses had said that one of the suspects had a harelip, as Chen does, Huang added.

Police yesterday morning arrested Fang Hsu-liang (方旭良) in Chiayi.

Huang said Fang had admitted that he and his friend Shih had planned to drive to Kaoshiung to collect a debt of NT$2 million (US$60,300) that was owed to them.

However, Fang denied any involvement in the violence that occurred in Tainan County, saying that it was Shih who had attacked police officers and murdered a passing driver on the highway.

The episode began when two Tainan County police officers, Lin You-chung (林裕崇) and Lia Wen-ching (賴文卿), gave chase to a speeding vehicle that refused to pull over.

The chase ended in Liouchia (六甲) when Fang and Shih's car rammed into an exit ramp median.

Gunshot

When the police approached the vehicle, one of its occupants grabbed an officer's gun and fired a shot, missing the officer.

As the suspects' vehicle was no longer in a condition to be driven, the suspects attempted to hijack a passing car.

The unfortunate driver, Hsiao Min-hsiang (蕭名享), attempted to speed away but was shot in the left shoulder through the window, causing him to swerve off the road and into a ditch along the highway.

Hsiao was later found dead in his vehicle.

A woman surnamed Lee later drove by the intersection and was threatened by the suspects with a pistol, whereupon she surrendered her vehicle.