Police investigate suspected shooting at official’s vehicle

• By Chen Kuan-bei and Fion Khan / Staff reporter, with staff writer

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Changhua police have launched an investigation into a suspected shooting reported by Executive Yuan Central Taiwan Joint Services Center Deputy Executive Officer Wu Yin-ning (吳音寧) after finding a steel ball lodged inside a damaged right rear taillight of her vehicle.

Wu said yesterday in a social media post that her driver discovered a cracked right rear taillight while washing her car, with a steel ball bearing lodged inside.

Suspecting the vehicle was shot at from behind, the driver reported the incident to the Sihu precinct and handed the projectile over to police, she said.

A steel ball was found lodged inside the broken right rear taillight of Executive Yuan Central Taiwan Joint Services Center Deputy Executive Officer Wu Yin-ning’s car.

Photo courtesy of Wu Yin-ning

The precinct said it received a report at about 11pm on Nov. 7 and immediately established a task force, including a surveillance footage team to expand the review of CCTV footage.

The investigation indicated that the incident occurred on National Freeway No. 1 at about midnight on Nov. 6, police said, adding that forensic officers have collected evidence and are analyzing the angle of the shot.

The incident might have been related to a traffic dispute, while the origin of the ball bearing, the exact cause of the damage and the perpetrator’s motive remain under investigation, they said.

Many local residents recognize the private car used for her official engagements, Wu said, adding that she usually sits in the right rear seat.

The steel ball could have struck the window directly behind her head, she said.

While Wu said that she might have been deliberately targeted, she did not rule out the possibility that someone had randomly fired an air gun late at night and accidentally hit her car.

Although no one was injured, she said the possibility that her car had been shot at frightened her.

In July, Wu, whose family has long-standing ties to local politics and rural affairs in Changhua County, accused Changhua County Council Speaker Hsieh Dien-lin (謝典霖) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of using a June banquet to campaign for his aunt, Chen Chen-fei (陳貞妃), the KMT’s Sihu Township (溪湖) mayoral candidate.

On Sept. 17, Changhua prosecutors asked the Changhua District Court to detain Hsieh and four others, alleging that a banquet in June attended by Sihu residents contravened the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) by serving as a covert campaign event in support of Hsieh’s aunt

Hsieh and his father, Hsieh Hsin-lung (謝新隆), were ordered detained and held incommunicado, while his mother, Cheng Ju-fen (鄭汝芬), a former KMT lawmaker, was released on NT$1 million (US$30,453) bail, the court said.

On Tuesday last week, Hsieh Hsin-lung was released on NT$10 million bail, while the court on Thursday ruled to extend Hsieh Dien-lin’s detention by two months until Jan. 17 next year.