A man who killed a landlord and seriously injured the victim’s wife and son said he was copying the plot of a Japanese comic book, police said yesterday.
Huang Fu-kang (黃富康), 35, was arrested on Monday night by police at a hospital in Taipei for allegedly killing a man he randomly picked from an apartment rental Web site.
“Pretending that he wanted to rent an apartment, the suspect made an appointment with 51-year-old victim Chien Tien-chi (簡添智) at the victim’s empty house,” a police spokesman said.
“The killer first used a hammer to hit the head of the victim and then slashed his throat and mouth with a sharp knife,” a police spokesman said.
Huang then found the victim’s ID card and home address, went to the house and attacked his wife and son, critically injuring them with stab wounds.
The spokesman said the suspect, who was slightly wounded during a fight with the victim’s son, coincidentally went for treatment to the same hospital where the son was being treated for his knife wounds. He was recognized by the son and was arrested at the hospital.
Huang later told police he had been unemployed for more than a year and that he killed Chien because he read in the Japanese comic book Last Order that random killing can dispel bad luck.
Police found a list of landlords the suspect had copied from the rental site. Chien was the third person the suspect called. The first did not answer the phone and the second did not want to rent the apartment to the suspect, police said.
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