Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) last night announced that police had cracked the high-profile murder of Weng Chi-nan (翁奇楠) after a 17-year-old, Liao Kuo-hao (廖國豪), turned himself in on Wednesday night and confessed.
"A meeting will soon be arranged between Liao and the other suspects we have in custody [in the Weng case] to try to learn more details of the murder," Taichung City Police Department Deputy Chief Yu Hui-mao )余輝茂) said.
Liao turned himself in to police on Wednesday night after getting in touch with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Justin Chou (周守訓) through one of Chou's supporters to say he wanted to surrender.
PHOTO: LIAO HUI-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
After verifying Liao’s identity, Chou called Taichung City Police Chief Chiu Feng-kuang (邱豐光) to arrange for the teenager to turn himself in.
Taichung police officers later escorted Liao from Taipei to Taichung by high-speed rail.
Weng, an alleged gangster, was killed in a hail of bullets in his office in Taichung on May 28.
PHOTO: LIAO HUI-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
There was widespread outcry when it was later discovered that four police officers had been at his office playing mahjong at the time, but did not intervene in the murder.
Several other suspects, including Lin Ying-hao (李英豪), who allegedly drove Liao to and from Weng's office the day of the shooting, are under arrest.
Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) said the next step would be to gain a thorough understanding of the time-line of the crime and find the murder weapon and other evidence.
"Prosecutors and police need to get to the bottom of this crime," he said. "There should be no fish that escape the net."
Liao was escorted by police yesterday morning to locations along the road from Taichung City to Taiping City (太平市) in Taichung County, where he claimed he disposed of parts of the two pistols he used.
The search for the pieces was ongoing as of press time.
Taichung prosecutors said Liao’s case would be heard by the Taichung Juvenile Court after police had finished questioning him.
The Juvenile Court might transfer Liao to the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office for more questioning because the felony charges he might face carry a prison sentence of more than five years.
Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) told reporters on the sidelines of an event at Taiwan Police College (TPC) that Liao's surrender was the result of hard work by police.
It showed that police officers had not given up on the case and the shooter had not fled the country.
"Immediately after the murder, a special police task force identified this as a well-planned and complicated case, involving not only the gunman, but also a driver and a behind-the-scenes mastermind," Jiang said.
"Although some people said the police would never catch the gunman because high-ranking officers were involved and that the murderer had escaped to China, the police were actually in total control," he said.
"I wouldn't say we knew where Liao was at the beginning, but we were certain that he was in the country. That's why officers looked for the people who were helping him, to force him out," Jiang said.
Speaking to the TPC graduates, Jiang urged them to learn from controversies surrounding police discipline following Weng’s murder.
"You must remember that, as law enforcement officers, you represent the state's authority, therefore you must bear in mind that there's a red line when interacting with people of a questionable nature," he said.
National Police Agency 胖irector-General Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞), meanwhile, said although Liao had turned himself in, "it was only a matter of time before he would have been caught."
Chou said yesterday he had only agreed to meet Liao on Wednesday because it was his duty as an elected representative.
"He was expressionless and quite composed. He was dressed just like an ordinary teenage boy, but looked a bit haggard," Chou said.
Chou said Liao was unhappy with Taiwan's education system.
"He told me that since he was a young child, his answers on examination sheets never won the approval of his school teachers," Chou said.
Liao's parents divorced when he was in elementary school and his father was a drug addict who was in and out of prison. He was raised by his grandparents.
Hsieh Sheng-nan (謝勝南), student affairs director of Liao's junior high school said the former student's complaints were unfair.
"He should think about his own issues instead of blaming our 苟ducation system. Our teachers spent a lot of energy trying to remold him. We contacted his grandparents and uncle more than 30 times in a single semester. Our teachers tried their best to help him, but to no avail," Hsieh said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG AND VINCENT Y. CHAO
The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is to tighten rules for candidates running for public office, requiring them to declare that they do not hold a Chinese household registration or passport, and that they possess no other foreign citizenship. The requirement was set out in a draft amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法 ) released by the ministry on Thursday. Under the proposal, candidates would need to make the declaration when submitting their registration forms, which would be published in the official election bulletin. The move follows the removal of several elected officials who were
FOUR DESIGNATED AREAS: Notices were issued for live-fire exercises in waters south and northwest of Penghu, northeast of Keelung and west of Kaohsiung, they said The military is planning three major annual exercises across the army, navy and air force this month, with the navy’s “Hai Chiang” (海強, “Sea Strong”) drills running from today through Friday, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The Hai Chiang exercise, which is to take place in waters surrounding Taiwan, would feature P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and S-70C anti-submarine helicopters, the ministry said, adding that the drills aim to bolster the nation’s offshore defensive capabilities. China has intensified military and psychological pressure against Taiwan, repeatedly sending warplanes and vessels into areas near the nation’s air defense identification zone and across
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SENATE RECOMMENDATION: The National Defense Authorization Act encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s navy to participate in the exercises in Hawaii The US Senate on Thursday last week passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which strongly encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s naval forces to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, as well as allocating military aid of US$1 billion for Taiwan. The bill, which authorizes appropriations for the military activities of the US Department of Defense, military construction and other purposes, passed with 77 votes in support and 20 against. While the NDAA authorizes about US$925 billion of defense spending, the Central News Agency yesterday reported that an aide of US
RSS