Knife and smoke grenade attack in Taipei kills three, injures 11

A man armed with at least one knife and smoke grenades carried out a series of indiscriminate attacks in Taiwan’s capital on the evening of December 19, killing at least three people and injuring 11 others, according to the city government, cited by Taiwanese media. The suspect later died after falling from a department store building.

Police said the suspect was pronounced dead at a hospital after jumping from the sixth floor of the building.

The attacker was identified as a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen. According to media reports, he initially threw smoke grenades near an underground exit of Taipei Main metro station, close to the city’s main railway hub, before randomly attacking passersby with a sharp object. The sudden assault caused pedestrians in the area to flee in panic.

After the first attack, Chang moved north toward a popular shopping district. There, he again deployed smoke grenades and stabbed multiple people inside the Eslite Spectrum Nanxi department store. Police said the attacks occurred on both the first and fourth floors of the building, with victims primarily sustaining wounds to the neck.

Authorities later disclosed that between the two attack sites, the suspect used an underground passage to reach a hotel. At the hotel, he retrieved what police described as a “lethal weapon” or an edged weapon before reappearing on a road near Zhongshan metro station, close to the department store where the later stabbings took place.

Investigators said they have found no evidence of accomplices and are continuing to examine the suspect’s possible motives. Police also reported that additional “lethal weapons” were recovered from both the suspect’s rented residence in Taipei and the hotel room near Zhongshan where he had stayed for three nights prior to the attacks.

The investigation remains ongoing as authorities work to establish a full timeline and determine the circumstances behind the deadly incident.

By Tamilla Hasanova