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Three college students held hostage by wanted fugitive
2015/12/21 22:02:04
Taipei, Dec. 21 (CNA) A wanted fugitive has taken three college students as hostages while trying to escape the pursuit of police in the southeastern Taiwan city of Taitung and was still holding them as of Monday night.
The armed suspect, surnamed Lin, was hiding in a bed and breakfast on Fengrong Road in Taitung City when his location was tipped off to police.
Police officers then rushed to the scene, but Lin escaped to the top floor of the building and jumped from a balcony onto a nearby house, where he took three college students hostage, according to initial reports by the police.
The police cordoned off the crime scene and were in a standoff with the suspect on Monday night, while Taitung Mayor Chang Kuo-chou (???), who was at the scene, was waiting to negotiate with the suspect.
Chang said his top priority was to rescue the hostages unharmed.
(By Christie Chen; click here for the updated story) )
Released hostages say incident was 'unreal, like movie'
2015/12/22 20:48:10
Taipei, Dec. 22 (CNA) Two of the three hostages who were held captive by a wanted fugitive in Taitung and later freed described the incident as "unreal" Tuesday, saying that they felt like they were in a movie.
The armed suspect, 36-year-old Lin Kuo-cheng (林國正), took the three male university students hostage Monday evening while escaping from police, who tried to arrest him for a suspected robbery.
[Monday evening]
Two of the hostages were released a couple of hours later. The remaining one was freed Tuesday afternoon after a standoff that lasted nearly 21 hours and ended with Lin surrendering to police. All three hostages are students from National Taitung University.
Speaking to reporters after their ordeal, the two students who were released a day earlier said they were writing school reports in their shared room when they heard a loud TV noise coming from their housemate's room across the hall.
They initially brushed off the incident, thinking that a friend was visiting their housemate, until he knocked on their door and walked in with Lin pointing a gun at his head, the students said.
Lin said he was not going to rob them nor hurt them and that he hoped they would cooperate with him, the students said.
They said Lin did not hurt them, but he became emotional a few times and would point the gun at them.
"It was unreal. It was like a movie," they said.
[Around 2 p.m., Tuesday, the remaining hostage says he is fine.]
During the siege, Lin contacted the Apple Daily newspaper several times, claiming that he had been framed by a police officer in the robbery case for which he was wanted.
Lin was previously imprisoned for 7.5 years for robbery. He was released on parole in 2013, but was wanted for his alleged involvement in another robbery.
At around noon Tuesday, Taitung Chief Prosecutor Huang Ho-tsun (黃和村) called Lin and took a deposition on the alleged robbery case. This was delivered to Lin, who agreed to it and assured the police that he would not harm the hostages, according to the authorities.
At 4:35 p.m., Lin surrendered to the police, and the remaining hostage left the building unharmed.
(By Tyson Lu and Christie Chen)
[Lin (center, in black) is taken out from the building by police.]
Hostage situation calls attention to safety of student housing
2015/12/22 21:00:10
Taipei, Dec. 22 (CNA) An incident in which three university students were held hostage for about 21 hours has prompted the Ministry of Education (MOE) to turn its attention to the safety of off-campus student housing.
The ministry now plans issue a directive to all schools in Taiwan to contact students living off campus in rented apartments and remind them to take safety measures, said Liu Chia-chen (劉家禎), an MOE official responsible for student affairs.
The schools will be requested to gather information on the location of their students' off campus accommodation and provide assistance when necessary, Liu added.
There are around 300,000 students in Taiwan living off campus in rented units, Liu said. The most common problems among them regarding their accommodations are theft, sexual harassment and faulty electrical wiring, he said.
The incident that sparked the ministry's concern started Monday evening in Taitung when an armed fugitive broke into an apartment and held three university students hostage. The man, identified as Lin Kuo-cheng (林國正), was on the run from police in connection with a robbery.
Lin, who had been hiding out at motel close to the students' apartment, released two of the hostages a couple of hours after he broke into their apartment but remained in a standoff with police until around 4 p.m. Tuesday, when he released the third hostage and surrendered.
It was the first such hostage situation in Taiwan.
During the siege, Lin contacted the Apple Daily newspaper several times, saying that he had been framed by a police officer in the robbery case for which he was wanted.
