Police yesterday detained a former inmate, surnamed Chiu (邱), who allegedly stabbed three people, including two elementary-school children.
The Miaoli City Police Department said that a local precinct received a report at 3:46pm that a man was attacking civilians with a knife near a convenience store close to Jhongjheng Road.
A group of elementary-school children was near the convenience store at the time, and a woman got their attention and helped them leave the area, footage from a nearby surveillance camera showed.
Photo: Peng Chien-li, Taipei Times
However, several children did not move fast enough, police said.
One of the two 11-year-old school girls, surnamed Ting (丁), was stabbed in her chest, while the other girl, surnamed Hsu (徐), had a small cut on her chest and lacerations on her right elbow, police said.
A man, surnamed Lin (林), was stabbed in the abdomen and back, and as of press time, was still being treated at a hospital, police added.
Ministry of Health and Welfare Hospital Miaoli branch president Hsu Kuo-fang (徐國芳) said Ting would be transferred to the China Medical University Hospital Hsinchu branch once her condition stabilizes.
Police said Chiu resisted attempts to arrest him at his home by tying a knife to his hand, but was subdued with a stun gun and brought in for questioning at 4:35pm.
Chiu was released from prison in March, having served eight years for a stabbing incident on Dec. 26, 2015, police said.
He has mental health problems and should have been treated while he was serving time, Miaoli County Commissioner Chung Tung-chin (鍾東錦) said after visiting the injured at the hospital.
Chiu should not have been released if he was liable to suffer a relapse and pose a threat to society, Chung said.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS