US forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee (
"I discovered many pieces of debris on the windshield and on the dashboard. That means the bullet came from a location outside the vehicle.
"In addition, according to the forensic analysis we did at the scene and patient records and X-ray photos provided by the hospital, I can confirm that Lu was injured by the same bullet that went through the windshield," Lee said during a press conference at Tainan's Tayih Landis Hotel.
Lee and forensic photographer Calvin Ostler flew to Tainan on Friday to visit the medical personnel who attended to the president and the vice president after the shooting.
After staying at the hospital for nearly four hours, Lee and Ostler went to the crime scene on Tainan City's Jinhua Road to recreate the incident and try to determine where the shots might have come from.
To help Lee carry out his research at the crime scene, the Tainan City Police Department sealed off a section of the road and requested that residents there turn off their lights so that Lee and his colleagues could use a laser instrument to help them determine where the shots might have come from and at what angles the bullets might have travelled.
The crime-scene research lasted for four and a half hours.
Investigators now believe that the gunman might have fired the first shot from in front of No. 18, Section 3, Jinhua Road. That would mean that there was a distance of approximately 8m between the shooter and the president's vehicle at the time the shots were fired.
The first bullet went through the Jeep's windshield and slightly wounded Lu in the right knee.
The suspect then fired a second shot, which grazed Chen's stomach.
During yesterday's press conference, Lee said that it is difficult to figure out the exact location of the shooter.
He said that forensic scientists can only determine a potential area from which a bullet might have been fired, which might help investigators identify a suspect from available video.
"We can only make an assumption about the area in which the suspect could have been located," he said.
"All our research is based on police reports about where the two bullet casings were found, how the vehicle was moving and how many people were at the scene," Lee said.
"However, none of the information was 100-percent accurate so it is impossible to come up with a precise analysis."
Before he left for Taipei, Lee said that he would utilize the "Ultralight" machine that he and his colleagues brought from the US to scan evidence at the National Police Administration's Criminal Investigation Bureau, and that he will update the public again when appropriate.
Once in Taipei, Lee immediately went to Lu's residence to examine her wound.
Lee, two other US forensic scientists and a Connecticut lawyer were scheduled to leave Taiwan today.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
REWRITING HISTORY: China has been advocating a ‘correct’ interpretation of the victory over Japan that brings the CCP’s contributions to the forefront, an expert said An elderly Chinese war veteran’s shin still bears the mark of a bullet wound he sustained when fighting the Japanese as a teenager, a year before the end of World War II. Eighty years on, Li Jinshui’s scar remains as testimony to the bravery of Chinese troops in a conflict that killed millions of their people. However, the story behind China’s overthrow of the brutal Japanese occupation is deeply contested. Historians broadly agree that credit for victory lies primarily with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-led Republic of China (ROC) Army. Its leader, Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a
RSS