Man climbs outside of building to 14th floor after random knife attack
A man scaled the outside of a building to the 14th floor after attacking a random stranger with a knife in Taipei City today, leading to a standoff with police.
Police received reports about a man armed with a kitchen chopper wandering along Hankou Street section 2 in Wanhua District at around 12:30 pm.
The suspect, a 40-year-old man named Qiu (邱) approached a 49-year-old truck driver named Lee, as Lee was unloading goods. Lee noticed Qiu’s suspicious behavior, and took a wooden stick out of his truck to defend himself.
Lee hit Qiu on his knife arm, sending the chopper flying. The back of the knife blade hit Lee on the arm, according to reports in Liberty Times and United Daily News, leaving a mark, but not drawing blood.
Qiu then fled the scene, and after police arrived and were searching for Qiu, they received reports that a man fitting the description was seen climbing up the outside of a building nearby.
Witnesses photographed and took video footage of Qiu straddling a narrow gap between two buildings before making a parkour-like leap to a balcony rail.
Qiu then climbed up a drainage pipe in what was described by some media reports as a Spider-Man-like performance. As Qiu climbed, he was seen pausing to wave at an onlooker, before continuing his ascent.
Police and fire fighters attended the scene to find Qiu perched on a ledge outside an apartment window on the 14th floor.
The fire department employed a ladder truck and police accessed the apartment to negotiate with Qiu via a window.
After around 40 minutes of tense negotiations, Qiu surrendered and allowed police to lift him through the window to safety.
A search of Qiu’s apartment turned up a small quantity of amphetamines.
Police said that Qiu is wanted on charges of theft.
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