Suspect in Taipei attacks that left 2 dead, 7 injured jumps to death

Taipei, Dec. 19 (CNA) A 27-year-old man who allegedly carried out random attacks using a smoke grenade and a knife, leaving two dead and seven injured, jumped to his death Friday evening, local authorities said.

The suspect reportedly jumped from the sixth floor of a Taipei department store and suffered cardiac arrest. He was rushed to Cathay General Hospital and pronounced dead at 7:42 p.m., the authorities added.

• 1 dead, 8 injured in Taipei knife attack linked to smoke grenade suspect

The Taoyuan District Prosecutors' Office said the suspect, Chang Wen (張文), had failed to report a change of household registration, preventing his reserve military service summons from being delivered.

He was scheduled to report for reserve military training on Nov. 25 last year, and an arrest warrant was issued on July 11 for violating the Punishment Act for Violation of the Military Service System, prosecutors added.

Taipei prosecutors searched a place Chang rented in the city's Zhongzheng District and found materials on making Molotov cocktails inside the residence.

Chang first threw a smoke grenade in MRT Taipei Main Station around 5 p.m., resulting in the death of a man in his 50s and injuring another.

• Smoke grenade thrown in MRT Taipei Main Station leaves 1 injured

He later headed north to the area outside Eslite Spectrum Nanxi near MRT Zhongshan Station and stabbed multiple people on the first and fourth floors of the department store, primarily in the neck, Taipei police said.

Seven people were injured in the knife attack. One man was transported to Mackay Memorial Hospital, where he suffered cardiac arrest, could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead around 8 p.m., according to the hospital.

Another man in his 30s suffered cardiac arrest at 7:32 p.m. at Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, where medical staff are still working to save him, the hospital said.

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