A 13-year-old junior-high school student in Penghu County is under investigation for allegedly firing two air guns at a classroom ceiling and causing panic among students on Friday last week.
The boy was carrying an air rifle and a handgun, both modified to fire pellets, but not real bullets, said Chang Hung-chih (張弘志), head of the criminal investigation section at Magong Police Precinct.
The parents of the teen’s classmates told local media over the weekend that school officials and police were trying to downplay the shooting as just “kids playing around.”
They said the boy worshiped the two shooters in the US Columbine High School Massacre in 1999, in which 12 students and one teacher were killed.
They said the boy used a screenshot from footage of the two Columbine killers for his Facebook page cover photo.
He is known to be a military buff and loves to play with firearms, other parents said, adding that he had posted a video on Facebook showing him firing at a cactus plant.
The video allegedly contained messages that read: “This cactus is bleeding because some shots went astray” and “I felt like shooting those idiots in the classroom in the same way.”
School officials said the boy went into a neighboring classroom, shouting: “I am coming,” and then began shooting in the air, right in front of a teacher and a roomful of students.
After that, he walked out into the lobby to unload the spent magazine and tried to insert another one. While doing so, a teacher subdued him, before others jumped in to disarm him.
School officials said no one was injured, but it frightened many students, some of whom were in a state of shock and cried throughout the day.
Chang yesterday said that the student might be charged with public intimidation and that he is to be handed over to the juvenile court.
The boy allegedly told officials he had a running feud with one student, and that was his way of getting back.
However, he also expressed regret, saying he was sorry and that he did not intend to hurt anyone.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard