The family, friends and colleagues of two policemen who were stabbed to death in Taiwan on Monday are mourning their sudden and brutal demise, and some are still in a state of disbelief.
Tsao Jui-chieh (???), 27, and Tu Ming-cheng (???) 36, died on Monday, when they sustained multiple stab wounds during their pursuit of a suspect in the theft of a motorbike.
The bodies of the two officers were found in a public cemetery in Tainan around noon Monday, and it took a 17-hour manhunt to apprehend the suspect in the early hours of Tuesday in Hsinchu, according to the police.
Later Tuesday, the families of the two policemen held a religious ritual at the crime scene in the cemetery to “take home” the spirits of the two officers.
“Jui-chieh, we are going home now,” Tsao’s relatives called out, tossing the divination moon blocks that are believed to provide an indication of the deceased’s response, based on the way they fall.
The blocks were tossed again and again by Tsao’s relatives, but they received no response, until his older brother gave him the assurance that their grandparents, who had raised Tsao, would be looked after.
“We will take care of grandmother, grandfather,” Tsao’s brother said. “You just come home with us.”
When Tsao’s grandmother first arrived at the scene, she collapsed in shock and disbelief, as she tried to come to terms with the death of her grandson, who had been stabbed 38 times.
“He went out to work in the morning while the rest of us were having breakfast, and he never came back,” she later told reporters.
In January 2021, Tsao had been reassigned from Taipei to his hometown in Tainan’s Guiren District, based on his request, in which he said he wanted to be able to look after his elderly grandmother and grandfather, who had suffered a stroke and was bedridden, according to local media.
“Tsao was raised by his grandparents, and he always showed them filial respect,” said Huang Chun-kuo (???), one his former supervisors at a police precinct in Taipei’s Wenshan District.
During Tsao’s six years of service in Taipei, he had earned more than 200 commendations, as he was a strong team player and worked very hard, which made him eligible to obtain the transfer he had requested, Huang said.
“I simply could not believe it,” Huang said, relating his response when he learned that Tsao had been brutally killed. “We deeply regret his passing and will miss him.”
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Tsao’s older brother said that when he was escorting the hearse carrying Tsao’s body to their grandparent’s house, he was reflecting on the many happy moments he had shared with his brother and re-living some of his fond childhood memories.
“Dearest brother, I am with you on your final journey,” Tsao’s bother wrote in the post. “Hopefully we will resume our brotherhood in the next life. You are the pride of the Tsao family and will always be in my thoughts.”
Meanwhile, Tu’s friends also paid tribute to him, saying he was dedicated to his work and showed great filial piety to his parents.
“He was such a good guy. How could this happen to him?” said Liao Chan-hsin (???), who had worked at New Taipei’s Shulin District police precinct, where Tu had served for 10 years before being transferred to his hometown in Tainan’s Guanmiao District about six years ago.
Choking back tears, Liao said he and Tu were roommates for five years when they were working in Shulin.
“Whenever he returned home after a night shift, he was always very quiet so as not to wake others,” Liao said, adding that Tu was a very kind and thoughtful person.
Hung De-ming (???), one of Tu’s former supervisors at the Shulin’s police precinct, told the local media that he was so shocked at the news of Tu’s death, he could hardly speak.
“He always met the top-level job evaluation criteria every year,” Hung said. “I can hardly think of anything that I could complain about” where he was concerned.
Other colleagues and friends remembered Tu as someone who was patient and always eager to help others, particularly elderly people and foreign visitors, according to local media.
A mourning hall has been set up at a funeral parlor in Tainan for people to pay tribute to the two fallen police officers.
President Tsai Ing-wen (???), who paid her respects to the two policemen Tuesday, said she has given a directive for a review of the restrictions on the use of guns by police officers and for their self-defense equipment to be improved.
Speaking with the media at the morning hall on Wednesday, Tsao’s uncle said that police officers on the beat usually face many dangerous and stressful situations.
He called on the government to listen to what such officers have to say about their rights, and thus hopefully prevent a similar tragedy from ever happening again in Taiwan.
“Tu and Tsao fought to the end to carry out their duties, but they lost their lives,” he said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel