Chang Fu-shun (張富順), the alleged mastermind of a crime gang involved in a kidnapping case that turned into a fatal shootout in Taichung, yesterday said that he was sorry for "accidentally" killing two police officers during the crime.
"To kidnap the victim for ransom money was in our original plan, but definitely not to kill cops," the Taichung City Police Department's Second Precinct quoted Chang as saying. "I am sorry for and regret what I have done."
Chang also told the police details of the entire crime, including where he dropped a toy gun that was used to threaten the victim during the kidnapping. However, due to the flooding from Tropical Storm Mindulle, police officers did not locate the toy gun.
PHOTO: HSU KUO-CHEN, TAIPEI TIMES
They did eventually discover the sedan used during the crime near the Sun Yat-sen Freeway's Hsiluo Intersection, where Chang abandoned the car on June 16.
Chang was arrested by coast guards when he was trying to flee to China by fishing boat.
The coast guard had been monitoring Chang and the boat captain for days and arrested them at sea around 2pm on Saturday near Tungkang Township, a fishing boat harbor in Pingtung County.
According to coast guard videotapes of the arrest, Chang did not struggle, but refused to identify himself when coast guards secured the boat. Chang was not carrying a weapon, and the captain told the coast guard that the he did not know Chang's identity.
In Taichung, the city's police department held a funeral ceremony for sergeants Lee Chin-fu (李進富) and Yeh Hsi-tsai (葉錫財) and conferred them with detective rank posthumously. Their families told reporters that they were comforted to hear that Chang was arrested and had admitted to the crime.
Lee and Yeh were both killed by Shih An-ming (施安明), one of the gang members, as police were trying to arrest him. After he shot the officers, Shih was shot to death by police returning fire.
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