Officials have confirmed that a victim from Thursday’s car rampage and stabbing in South Korea has died. This marks the first fatality in the attack, which left 14 people injured and shocked a nation where mass violence is rare.
The victim, a woman in her 60s, was pronounced dead at 2 a.m. on Sunday, according to the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police. She had been hospitalized for her injuries after being struck by the car.
The suspect, identified as a 23-year-old male delivery worker named Choi, drove onto a sidewalk near a subway station in Seongnam, a city southeast of Seoul. After hitting five pedestrians with his car, he entered the subway station and stabbed nine people before being apprehended. He was initially charged with attempted murder, but the charge has now been upgraded to murder. The police have not yet disclosed a motive for Choi’s actions.
Following Choi’s arrest on Thursday, he underwent a drug test, which came back negative. Authorities have revealed that Choi, a high school dropout, had previously been diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder.
This attack, which authorities are treating as an “act of terror,” occurred shortly after another stabbing incident in Seoul last month that resulted in one death and three injuries.
The seemingly random nature of these attacks has instilled fear, prompting the police to increase their presence in public areas and issue warning messages through official channels. As of Sunday, numerous individuals have been arrested for making online threats of copycat attacks, specifying times, locations, and the number of targets. At least one person has been apprehended for carrying knives in public.
2023-08-05 22:09:46
Link from www.nytimes.com
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