Investigation into Sean Lien’s Shooting Incident Continues

Investigation into Sean Lien’s Shooting Incident Continues

Sources: All Taipei newspapers

December 2, 2010

The police and prosecutors are currently continuing their investigation into the Sean Lien Shooting Incident. They are hoping to clarify the motivation of the shooter, Lin Cheng-wei, as soon as possible. Lin had shot Sean Lien in the face on November 26 while Lien Jr. was stumping for Chen Hung-yuan, KMT candidate for Xinbei City Council. Unfortunately for the police and prosecutors, according to media reports, Tu Yi-kai, campaign manager for Xinbei City Council candidate Chen Hung-yuan and a key witness in the shooting incident, left Taiwan for Mainland China yesterday morning, and the Banchiao District Prosecutors Office confirmed the media reports last night. Furthermore, other witnesses might have plans to leave Taiwan some time soon as well.

According to the police, Lin Cheng-wei had made five phone calls to Tu Yi-kai ten minutes before he shot Sean Lien, but only one call had been answered, by Tu’s driver, because the campaign rally venue had been too noisy. After Lin was arrested at the scene and taken to the police station, he told the police that he wanted to ask Tu to find an attorney for him. However, the police suspected that the purpose of all his phone calls had been to mislead the investigators.

In addition, the Legislative Yuan yesterday examined the progress in the prosecutorial inquiry into the Sean Lien Shooting Incident. Yen Ta-ho, Chief Prosecutor of the Taiwan Provincial Prosecutors Office, stated that, after he examined the police video recordings of the shooting scene at the Banchiao District Prosecutors Office on November 28, he concluded that “there was no indication that the shooting had been self-staged.” He explained that the police and prosecutors had questioned and subpoenaed relevant witnesses and evidence, and had also attempted to convince Lin Cheng-wei to tell the truth about the incident with assistance from his family members. Yen Ta-ho added that Lin’s motivation in the shooting was still unclear for the time being.

In response to the public’s request to release Sean Lien’s medical records, the National Taiwan University Hospital (NTHU) stated that it did not have authorization to release the patient’s confidential medical records, adding that Sean Lien currently had no plans to leave the hospital.

Dr. Ko Wen-je, NTHU Critical Care director, who had always described himself as a “deep-Green” supporter, firmly dispelled the suspicions among some DPP supporters concerning the authenticity of Sean Lien’s gunshot wounds, saying that he had personally examined Sean Lien when he was sent to the NTHU emergency room. Dr. Ko said that a bullet had indeed gone in one side of Lien’s face and out the other, adding that he hoped that the public would stop talking nonsense.

The DPP complained that KMT legislator Kuo Su-chun had deliberately manipulated the gunshot incident to boost KMT support on the evening of the shooting. Kuo explained that she had repeatedly called for the public to judge the incident rationally. Furthermore, she said that everyone in the crowd should have been supporters of KMT candidate Eric L.L. Chu, so of course she asked them to vote for Chu and join hands to oppose the violence. Kuo Su-chun added, “Does the DPP mean that the only way I could have avoided accusations of political manipulation would have been for me to call on everyone to vote for the DPP candidate Tsai Ing-wen?”

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