Taipei City Police Department Commissioner Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) yesterday said that police were having difficulty identifying the two people who shot KMT Taipei City Councilor Chen Chin-chi (陳進棋) last Saturday -- even though police had collected two fingerprints, one palm print and two footprints from the abandoned scooter the gunmen used during the crime.
"We hsve not discovered any possible suspects at all, even after we worked on the fingerprints for hours," the city police chief said. "There are three possibilities. First, the suspects may not have any criminal records. Second, they may not have served in the military. Third, they are foreigners."
The police fingerprint database is composed of those people who have served in the military or who have criminal records.
Wang also said that a security video system got a picture of the two suspects when they abandoned their scooter in a public parking space. However, officers still could not identify them because the suspects wore their helmets all the time.
"In the video, they walked toward the camera separately after they parked the scooter. They looked extremely calm and normal. We are trying to investigate if any other security video system in that neighborhood captured their picture. Maybe we can find out where and how they escaped," Wang said.
A story in the Chinese-language news media yesterday reported that police had identified one of the suspects by matching up the two fingerprints, one palm print and two footprints they have collected.
When questioned, Wang did not confirm or deny the report.
Meanwhile, DPP Taipei City Councilor Chen Hsiu-hui (陳秀惠) said yesterday that Wang should resign from his post to take responsibilty for the failure to catch the killers.
Wang did not respond to the councilor's remarks.
The late councilor Chen was campaigning for his third term on city council. His campaign headquarters spokesman, Hung Chin-hao (洪金浩), said yesterday that he would negotiate with the Central Election Commission (CEC, 中央選舉委員會) to see if there is any possibility of finding another KMT candidate to replace Chen. However, his proposal was declined immediately by the CEC.
"According to the Election and Recall Law (選舉罷免法), Chen's registration as a city councilor candidate became invalid automatically starting from the moment he died. To ask another candidate to replace him is against the regulations and it is impossible," Yu Ming-hsian (余明賢), the chief of the CEC's First Section, said.
Meanwhile, the National Police Administration (
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese