Last month, a random murder case occurred in Taipei, Taiwan, resulting in 4 deaths and 11 injuries. On the 15th, the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office announced the investigation results, stating that the killer Zhang Wen did not receive unknown funds nor had accomplices—he acted alone, attempting to demonstrate his own influence through the crime but ultimately committed suicide out of guilt. Various pieces of evidence also show that the location where he fell to his death, Eslite Spectrum Nanxi, was the final stop of his murder plan.
Once Mentioned 'Doing Something Big Before Dying'
According to 'China Times News Network', the prosecution found that Zhang Wen had conceived the idea of committing the crime as early as December 17, 2023. According to the investigation, Zhang Wen was repressed and had poor interpersonal relationships with antisocial tendencies. Police and prosecutors interviewed his middle school, vocational high school, and university classmates, as well as the squad leader from his military service and colleagues from a security company, confirming that he was introverted, awkward, repressed, and after reviewing his social media accounts under his name on Facebook, Line, Discord, etc., it was also found that he had very limited participation in social media. His social interactions during his university graduation and employment period were also extremely poor.
According to Zhang Wen's family, he was indeed estranged from his family, especially since he left the security company in June 2021, after which he was almost completely out of touch with his family.
The prosecution also summoned two witnesses who stated that Zhang Wen had talked about 'wanting to kill people' and had mentioned 'wanting to do something big before dying.' The prosecution determined that Zhang Wen had been out of contact with his parents for a long time, was estranged from his siblings, had a clearly broken family relationship, an extremely poor real-life social circle, and was in a state of extreme estrangement and social isolation.
Analyzed 'Gestures' to Unlock Tablet Password
In addition, there was no evidence to show that Zhang Wen received unknown funds or had any organizational or accomplice assistance, and according to his "attack plan," he had no escape plan for afterwards—he indeed intended suicide, not an accident. The prosecution determined that Zhang Wen was suspected of violating the Act Governing Guns, Ammunition and Knives, intimidation of the public, public endangerment, homicide, and attempted homicide—a total of 8 charges, but as he has already died, the prosecution decided not to prosecute, according to criminal procedure law.
According to the timeline in Zhang Wen's 'attack plan,' the plan was to end after the attack at Zhongshan Department Store, with no further plans, making it clear that the fall was not accidental. Because Zhang Wen died, the contents of his laptop and tablet became crucial investigative materials. To crack the password, the police noticed from CCTV footage that on November 17, 2025, he had gone to Taipei Main Station to do reconnaissance and had taken out his tablet then. Experts analyzed his gestures from the footage to deduce the tablet's password, then used the tablet to connect to the cloud, allowing the discovery of his attack plan.