Man rams car onto sidewalk and stabs pedestrians, 14 wounded in South Korea – National | 24CA News
A person rammed a automobile onto a sidewalk Thursday in South Korea, then stepped out of the car and started stabbing individuals at a shopping center. Authorities mentioned at the least 14 individuals had been wounded within the nation’s second mass stabbing in a month.
At least 5 individuals had been damage by the automobile, and 9 others had been stabbed within the assaults that occurred in a crowded leisure district close to a subway station within the metropolis of Seongnam, in accordance with Yoon Sung-hyun, an official from the southern Gyeonggi provincial police division.
Police officers cordon off the scene of the assault close to a subway station in Seongnam, South Korea, on Aug. 3, 2023.
AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon
Authorities arrested a suspect in his 20s on the scene and and questioned him. Police didn’t establish the person or provide any quick details about a possible motive.
The head of the National Police Agency described the assault as “virtually an act of terrorism.”
An official at Gyeonggi’s provincial hearth division, Ha Dong-geun, mentioned at the least two of the wounded had been hospitalized in severe situation.
Photos from the scene confirmed forensic items inspecting the halls of the AK Plaza, the place the stabbings happened. A white Kia hatchback with a damaged entrance window and ruptured entrance tire may very well be seen on a sidewalk close to the subway station.
South Korea’s Kyunghyang Shinmun newspaper printed a video on its web site that it mentioned was despatched by a witness. The footage confirmed a person carrying sun shades and a black hoodie strolling up the mall’s escalator with an object in his hand.
A witness named Hwang Hee-woon instructed YTN tv that he “heard a sound from the first floor that seemed like a scream, so customers and shop workers were gathering on the rails of the second floor near the escalator to see what was happening below.”
“Suddenly, someone told us the person who committed the crime was coming up to the second floor, so we ran away in panic,” he mentioned. He ended up hiding inside a refrigerated storage room with some mall workers.
Police officers cordon off the scene of the assault close to a subway station in Seongnam, South Korea, on Aug. 3, 2023.
AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon
Last month, a knife-wielding man stabbed at the least 4 pedestrians on a road within the capital, Seoul, killing one particular person.
The National Police Agency held an internet assembly Thursday with regional police chiefs to debate methods to take care of stabbings and different assaults towards random targets. Officials mentioned growing nighttime patrols in leisure districts and different crowded areas and strengthening safety digital camera surveillance, in accordance with the company.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
