A police officer stationed at TaipeiBank's Mucha branch was credited with stopping a robbery yesterday after a dramatic shootout that left the robbers seriously injured.
First Bank clerks Huang Yi-lin (
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FENG, TAIPEI TIMES
The men, identified by police as Chung Ming-yang (鍾明陽), 40, and Wu Fu-ching (吳福清), 46, were wearing rain coats and full-face helmets. As Chung and Wu approached the clerks, Chung pulled out a pistol and tried to take the money.
The 49-year-old police officer, Peng Dao-neng (
"Chung and Wu were on a scooter following the security van as they arrived. I began to pay attention to these two guys since they were wearing rain coats even though it was not raining," Peng said. "I thought it was an anti-robbery exercise but I realized it was for real when Chung began to shoot at me."
Chung shot at Peng four times but missed each time. Peng shot back five times and missed only once.
Chung was shot in the chest and the waist, and Peng arrested him immediately. Wu was also shot in the chest but he fled on a scooter driven by a third person.
Wu went to a hospital in Keelung for treatment for his gunshot wound. He was trans-ferred to Keelung's Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital for emergency medical treatment and was arrested there by the police.
National Police Administration Director-General Chang Si-liang (
"Peng's fast reaction stopped a robbery even though robbery had nothing to do with his own bank," Chang said.
"We are still trying to identify and locate the third suspect who rode the scooter that picked Wu up after the crime," he said.
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