"Shock and fear rippled through Taipei's commercial district Friday evening after a knife-wielding attacker killed at least three people and injured six others before falling off a building during the police chase. Footage shows sanitation staff washing away the blood outside Eslite Spectrum Nanxi in Zhongshan District. Meanwhile, police officers can be seen securing the area and monitoring the crowds. "My first reaction at the time was... well, I felt that in this commercial district, with all the cosplayers, you sometimes run into some eccentric people, so I am actually not that surprised by this kind of thing. I just never imagined he would actually kill someone," Evan Chang, an eyewitness, explained. Recalling past stabbing incidents, including the 2014 Cheng Chieh case and the 2024 Taichung MRT attacks Chang expressed fear that mass stabbings could become more frequent in Taiwan. "Ever since the Cheng Chieh incident, the police initially estimated that there would be copycat crimes. However, ten years passed before another stabbing occurred on the Taichung MRT in 2024. Now, in 2025, it has happened again, only a year later," he said. The attacker reportedly threw around multiple smoke grenades and Molotov cocktails at Taipei Main Station before launching a stabbing spree at the Eslite Spectrum Nanxi shopping district near Zhongshan Station. "I saw a thick cloud of smoke near Taipei Main Station. I was scared something might have happened, so I ran away immediately," Yi Kai Huang recalled. "Thinking about it now makes me feel quite terrified. If I had been ten minutes late and taken the next train, I might have encountered that killer." According to the Taipei City Fire Department, a report came in at 17:24  of an explosion near Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station. Authorities said the blast left a man in his fifties in out‑of‑hospital cardiac arrest and a man in his thirties with smoke inhalation. Both were rushed to National Taiwan University Hospital for emergency care. Emergency services transported other victims to Mackay Memorial Hospital and Shin Kong Memorial Hospital. Meanwhile, authorities ramped up security at train stations in response to the attack. The suspect has been identified as 27‑year‑old Chang Wen. He fell from the sixth floor of the shopping complex during the police pursuit. Authorities later said that Chang suffered a cardiac arrest and died after the fall. Premier Cho Jung-tai called the incident a 'deliberate act,' while the attacker's motives remain unclear."