Cop shot and injured attempting to disarm suspect during SWAT raid
A police officer was shot while attempting to disarm a suspect in Changhua County this morning, after a man faced police in a four-hour long standoff outside a small factory building.
Officers from the Taichung City Investigation Bureau located the man in Changhua County during an investigation into an armed intimidation case that occurred in Taichung City on June 23.
Investigation bureau officers and a team from one of Taiwan’s “Thunder Squad” special weapons and tactical response police units were dispatched to arrest the suspect at a location in Hemei Township, Changhua County shortly after midnight.
The suspect, a 43-year-old man named Lee, who has multiple previous convictions, and was armed with two modified pistols, held police in a standoff. Lee stood at the front door of the sheet steel building with a car parked directly in front as cover, while police attempted to negotiate from behind patrol cars parked around 15 meters away.
Lee threatened to shoot if police attempted to approach the building.
With support from local police stations, eventually around 50 police were deployed outside the building, according to United Daily News.
After around four hours, the SWAT team bowled a stun grenade, which exploded under the suspects vehicle, then stormed the front door, meeting the armed suspect who was still armed and threatening the officers with the pistol.
One officer grabbed the suspect’s gun, attempting to disarm him, but the gun discharged, sending a bullet into the officer’s left shoulder. A bullet fragment also hit another officer in the elbow.
Despite the overwhelming number of police deployed outside the building, Lee took advantage of the ensuing chaos, and managed to escape from the building.
Lee was arrested around 4 hours later at another location in Hemei Township, and was taken in for questioning at around 10:00 am this morning.
Police seized as evidence, two modified hand guns, 38 rounds of ammunition, 23 bullet casings, and tools and equipment related to the manufacture and modification of firearms.
An officer named Yang was treated for a bullet wound in the shoulder at Changhua Christian Hospital, while an officer named Liu was had a wound on his elbow disinfected and bandaged, and required no further treatment.
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