Man dies in airport gunfight in Greater Taichung, two hurt

By Jason Pan / Staff reporter





A gunfight that erupted yesterday afternoon at the Chingchuankang Airport in Greater Taichung left one man dead and two others injured, police said.

The victim was Chang Kun-ming (張坤明), 45, who got into a dispute with an aviation police officer on duty at the airport at about 2:30pm, police said.

In a fit of anger due to being questioned by the officer over not wearing a motorcycle helmet, Chang allegedly began a fight with the aviation police officer and during the tussle the officer’s handgun was knocked to the ground.

Chang grabbed the gun and took aim at the officer, surnamed Kang (康), 43, as he tried to flee into the airport lobby, police said.

Chang fired a total of 12 shots into the lobby, with several bullets grazing Kang, police said. A 23-year-old female passenger surnamed Ho (何) was also wounded.

Two other officers who rushed to the scene drew their guns and shot at Chang, according to eyewitness accounts.

According to a police statement, the two officers fired a total of 14 shots as they chased Chang out of the airport lobby and onto the road outside on airport’s main entrance.

Eventually, Chang was fatally shot. His body remained on the road until an ambulance arrived to take him to a local hospital.

An emergency room doctor surnamed Wu (吳) said Chang was dead on arrival at the hospital and a post-mortem indicated that he had been shot four times, with bullet wounds in his chest, midriff, left buttock and lower back.

Wu said the female passenger had a bullet lodged in her buttock and that doctors planned to operate on her last night to remove the bullet.

“Both the female passenger and the aviation police officer have only minor injuries which are not life-threatening,” Wu told reporters.