A female detective assistant with the Taichung Police Department’s Second Precinct was detained on Tuesday night after repeatedly posting threatening remarks on social media platforms and in online groups, the Taichung District Court said.
The officer, surnamed Huang (黃), allegedly issued multiple explicit and violent written threats against specific people, including Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), within a short period, at a time of heightened social sensitivity, after a man went on a stabbing spree in Taipei on Friday last week, killing three and injuring at least 11, it said.
Taichung’s Second Precinct yesterday said that Huang has been suspended from duty, effective immediately, and it plans to record two major demerits and dismiss her from service.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung City Government
The alleged remarks began on a Line group of her police colleagues on Friday last week, the day of the attack, the court said.
“Guess who will get shot in the head,” and “I wonder who can shoot someone dead with one shot,” she allegedly wrote.
She later commented on a post on social media platform Threads regarding copycat crimes, in which she directly named Lu in threats involving shooting, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said they immediately ordered her arrest and applied for her detention, which the court approved.
The court said that as Huang is a police officer and is familiar with using firearms, it could not rule out the possibility that she might carry out on her threats and deemed it necessary to detain her.
Huang is suspected of offenses including endangering public safety, it added.
Even after her arrest, she continued to express strong dissatisfaction with Taichung’s construction projects and people she threatened, and was therefore deemed to have a high risk of reoffending, the court said.
Huang posted the threatening remarks closely after last week’s incident in Taipei, causing fear and panic among those who reported her, city government personnel and the public, it added.
The timing of her remarks could also encourage copycat actors with malicious intent, it said.
Huang’s mobile phone has been seized by prosecutors, and all threatening remarks have been preserved via screenshots, it said.
She has not been held incommunicado and is to be allowed visits and correspondence, as the risk of collusion has been reduced and evidence gathered, it said.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS