TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Police detained a 40-year-old man surnamed Wu (吳) Thursday (July 31) after he stormed into a Buddhist temple office with a knife and held a female employee hostage. Wu harbored deep resentment against Baoyuan Temple (寶雲寺) of Dharma Drum Mountain (法鼓山), one of Taiwan's prominent Buddhist organizations, over a longstanding unresolved dispute. The dramatic incident unfolded at the temple in Taichung, Taiwan's third-largest city.
Wu demanded that judicial authorities come to the scene and listen to him explain clearly during the tense standoff, police said. The Taichung Police Department's Sixth Precinct received the emergency report around 7 p.m. regarding the incident on Shizheng Road (市政路) in Situn District (西屯區). Police responded immediately to the temple location in the bustling district.
Police arrived to find Wu had broken into the temple office, wielding a fruit knife while holding the terrified female employee hostage. Wu appeared emotionally agitated, waving the knife and making attacking motions toward his captive, police said. Officers immediately sealed all temple entrances, evacuated other occupants, and surrounded the suspect with armed personnel carrying firearms, batons and pepper spray.
Wu became increasingly agitated during negotiations, gripping the knife tightly while his victim remained frozen in terror, police said. Investigators recognized the dangerous stalemate and initially pretended to comply with Wu's demands for judicial intervention. Tu Chih-hung (涂志宏), the precinct's head of investigations, contacted the Taichung District Prosecutors' Office and arranged a video call between Wu and a prosecutor.
Prosecutors requested Wu's detention following additional questioning, and the court approved the request, police said. The hostage emerged physically unharmed from the ordeal that highlighted both the vulnerability of religious institutions and the tactical skills of Taiwan's law enforcement officers. ◼