Baseball cheerleader survives knife attack during modeling gig

Taipei, June 21 (CNA) A cheerleader for a professional Taiwanese baseball team was attacked Saturday by a knife-wielding man, who tried to cut her throat, while she was on a private modeling job in Taipei, police said.

The cheerleader Wang Ching-wen (王敬汶), better known by her stage name Wen Wen, was rushed to hospital where she required surgery, and she was in stable condition as of late Saturday, according to a joint statement released by her management agency and the baseball team she cheers for, the CTBC Brothers.

Wang, a member of the Passion Sisters cheerleading squad, was at a private photoshoot at studio on Chongqing North Road, Section 3, when an apparently agitated man attacked her with a knife, inflicting a 5-centimeter-long wound on her throat, police said.

The photographers and studio employees tried to disarm the attacker, and in the process, three of the photographers were injured, according to the Taipei City Police Department's Datong Precinct, which responded to the emergency call.

Local media reports later identified the attacker as a private photographer in his 50s, surnamed Hsu (許),who has been a longtime fan of Wang's, appearing at most of her cheerleading events.

The incident is currently under investigation by Taipei's Shilin District Prosecutors Office, which has not yet determined what prompted the attack, police said.

In the wake of the attack, the CTBC Brothers and Wang's agency, Dorian International Entertainment, released a joint statement later Saturday, announcing that Wang was currently under observation following successful surgery.

Meanwhile, private work has been banned for all members of the Passion Sisters cheerleading squad, and security will be tightened during baseball events, said the CTBC Brothers, a member of Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL).

In their joint statement, the CTBC Brothers and Dorian International Entertainment said they would fully cooperate with the authorities in the investigation of the incident.