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Foiled heist in Yunlin leaves two dead

One suspect was killed and two others were arrested by police following a fierce gunfight after a jewelry shop robbery in Yunlin County on Saturday night during which the shop owner was shot and killed.

Police said the main suspect, Lee Kuang-sheng (李廣勝), died in the gunbattle, while another suspect, Chang Chung-shan (張中山), was injured and a third, Hung yuan (洪源), was arrested unharmed.

Police said the robbery took place on Saturday at 7pm.

ROBBERY

Two masked men rushed into a jewelry shop in Hsiluo Township (西螺), Yunlin County, firing pistols as the owner of the shop, surnamed Lin, and his wife were watching TV, police said.

Lin's wife ran into a room at the back of the shop.

Police said the two suspects then smashed the display windows and stole gold jewelry worth more than NT$2 million (US$62,500) before fleeing in a stolen van allegedly driven by Hung.

CALL FOR HELP

Lin was hit by three shots but still managed to walk outside the store and call for help. He died shortly after being admitted to a nearby hospital.

Police found the stolen van abandoned on a nearby street about half an hour later and clues left by the robbers led officers to a motel in Changhua County.

Yunlin police officers then drove to the motel and staked it out.

As the suspects arrived at the motel at around 8pm, police cars surrounded their car and asked them to get out of their vehicle.

After a brief standoff, officers began firing at the tires of the car and the suspects immediately began firing back from inside the car.

More than 100 shots were exchanged before the suspects stopped shooting, police said.

Officers then approached the car and found Lee's body with five bullet wounds while Chang was seriously injured with two bullet wounds.

Hung, who was not involved in the gunfight, was arrested uninjured.

EARLIER CRIME

Yunlin police allege that Lee and Chang were also behind another robbery in Peikang Township (北港) on Jan. 4 in which a jewelry shop owner was shot twice in the leg.

They said they had identified Lee and Chang as the primary suspects after the Jan. 4 robbery, but regretted that they had been unable to arrest the pair quickly enough to prevent Saturday's tragedy.
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