Police yesterday said that a security camera had captured the face of the gunman who allegedly murdered Taipei County Councilor Wu Shan-jeou (
"He [the gunman] made a phone call at a phone booth before he committed the crime. When he made that phone call, he did not wear the motorcycle helmet and the security camera captured his face clearly, so we are quite confident that he will be identified soon," said Wang Yu-Kang (王毓綱), deputy commissioner of the Taipei County Police Department.
Wu was gunned down in his Sindian office around noon on Wednesday. He was rushed to hospital but was officially pronounced dead at 1:08pm on the same day.
Police said scientists had conducted a DNA test using saliva they collected from the public phone the gunman had used before he shot Wu.
Wang said forensic scientists had discovered two female DNA samples and one male DNA sample during the analysis. Unfortunately, there was not enough of the male saliva for scientists to perform a complete DNA match-up.
Meanwhile, the police have been searching for the scooter that the gunman rode before and after the crime. Wang said that less than 100 scooters matched the details available as of press time yesterday.
"I think we can get some useful information from this clue," he said. "The scooter he rode is a rare model. It should not be difficult for us to figure out who owns the scooter."
An autopsy was performed on Wu at 8:30am yesterday.
Coroners and prosecutors confirmed that Wu was shot four times. Three of the bullets went through his body, while one remained inside his stomach.
Coroner Fang Chung-min (方中民) removed the bullet that remained inside Wu and this also provided the police with some useful information.
"He [Wu] died of the shot that passed through his left lung," said Lin Jinn-tsun (林錦村), a spokesman for the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office. "The gunman used `hollow point bullets' which create open wounds so that the victim would have bled to death anyway."
Lin said that only a certain number of people would be "professional" enough to obtain and use this kind of bullet, so it should also help police track the gunman down.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
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