Police yesterday released a photo of a suspect wanted for questioning in connection with the murder of Taipei County councilor Wu Shan-jeou (
Police also announced a NT$2 million (US$60,600) reward for evidence leading to the suspect's arrest.
Police obtained the photo from security camera footage taken from the scene of the murder.
PHOTO: HUANG LI-HSIANG, TAIPEI TIMES
In the screen grab, the suspect is seen riding a scooter. Although he is wearing headgear and sunglasses, part of his face is visible.
Taipei County Police Department Vice Commissioner Wang Yu-kang (王毓綱) said that some of Wu's colleagues, who witnessed the murder, had confirmed that the man in the surveillance footage was the killer.
Wang said that police hoped the release of the photo and the offer of the reward would help them to crack the case as soon as possible.
The suspect was about 175cm tall, spoke Mandarin and remained calm during the murder, Wang said.
Wu was gunned down in his office in Sindian (
Witnesses said a suspect rushed into Wu's office and fired five shots from a pistol, four of which struck the lawmaker.
Wu was hit in the chest and left arm and he fell down on the floor amid a pool of blood, police said.
Police added that the suspect left the scene on a scooter soon thereafter.
Wu was rushed to a nearby hospital, but doctors pronounced him dead at 1:08pm.
Police suspect that Wu's assassination was related to his having prevented gangsters from using illegal front companies to obtain government contracts in the county.
The Taipei County Government has proposed an environmental clean-up of the largest river in the area, the Sindian River, and many companies are vying for projects related to the clean-up, as well as for contracts to dig sand and gravel out of the riverbed in order to deepen it.
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