Incheon knife attack caused 8 injuries, the suspect wore electronic shackles and possessed a large amount of drugs

A knife attack occurred at a mass merchandiser in Incheon, South Korea this afternoon, resulting in eight people being injured and one of them having cardiac and pulmonary failure. The 59-year-old suspect was still wearing electronic shackles when he was arrested and was found to be carrying a large amount of drugs.

According to Yonhap News Agency, 59-year-old A, who brandished a murder weapon at an unspecified crowd at a large commercial facility in Incheon today, was sentenced to 4 years in prison for attempted murder in August 2015 and served his sentence.

At that time, the court considered Mr. A's multiple violent criminal records and ordered him to wear electronic shackles for 10 years after he was released from prison. After Mr. A is released from prison after serving his sentence, he should continue to wear electronic shackles until February 2029. During this period, he is also required to abide by the rule of not leaving his residence from midnight to 6 a.m. every day.

However, while wearing electronic shackles, Mr. A violated the restricted time for going out and left his residence without permission as many as four times from January to May 2021. Therefore, he was transferred to trial and was sentenced to a fine of 3 million won (approximately NT$72,000) in 2022. Mr. A was also filed by the police last month for carrying a murder weapon during a one-person demonstration in front of a hospital.

In addition, after the police arrested Mr. A today, they found a large amount of drugs in his belongings. Mr. A also testified during the police investigation that he was taking drugs at the time of the crime. The police plan to entrust relevant agencies to identify and confirm whether the drugs taken by A are psychotropic drugs.

The police will continue to investigate the specific motive of A’s crime and plan to apply for a detention order.

Witnesses at the scene today said that Mr. A tied the murder weapon to his hands with a cloth and moved all the way from the second underground floor to the third floor above ground. He swung the knife when he saw people. After that, he originally wanted to go up to the fourth floor, but the entrance was blocked by a chair, so he went down again, and was finally subdued by a customer.

Relevant police sources said that Mr. A carried two murder weapons and waved them at customers for unknown reasons. They are still continuing to confirm whether there are other victims.