00:00Smoke, confusion, chaos.
00:06Pedestrians in Taipei's busy Zhongshan Commercial District
00:09saw Friday evening take a turn for the deadly
00:12after a man launched a lethal attack,
00:15first tossing smoke grenades before slashing at bystanders with a knife.
00:19One restaurant worker recalls the harrowing scene.
00:30The perpetrator, seen here, entered a shopping mall brandishing a large knife.
00:38The attacks started around 5 p.m. on Friday
00:41when the man, named as 27-year-old Zhang Wen,
00:45set off smoke grenades at Taipei Main Station.
00:48There, he attacked multiple people before heading north to Zhongshan Station.
00:53Around Zhongshan Station, the attacker stabbed around a dozen more people.
00:57After being surrounded by police,
01:00the perpetrator then reportedly jumped out of a sixth floor window,
01:03sustaining fatal injuries.
01:05At least three people are confirmed to have died in the rampage.
01:09One of those killed was a security guard in his 50s
01:12who tried to disarm the suspect at Taipei Main Station.
01:16Taipei Mayor Zhang Wan'an praised him for his selflessness.
01:27Not much is known about the attacker's motives.
01:34Zhang from Taoyuan in northern Taiwan
01:36was wanted by police for violating terms of his military conscription.
01:41Authorities are continuing to look into the case.
01:43On social media, one poster claiming to be a co-conspirator with Zhang
02:01threatened another attack in southern Taiwan's Kaohsiung City.
02:06While authorities say that the message was traced back to a foreign IP address,
02:10they are taking no risks.
02:12Premier Zhuo Rongtai says security will be ramped up
02:15at transportation locations all over the country.
02:29Police in SWAT gear have been stationed throughout the country.
02:33Such attacks are rare in Taiwan, but not unknown.
02:37In 2014, a stabbing attack on the Taipei metro
02:41saw four people killed and two dozen injured.
02:45Last year, three people were injured in an attack on the metro system in Taichung.
02:49While the reason behind the most recent attack is still unclear,
02:53its effects on everyday members of the public
02:56are rippling throughout the country.
02:58Luffy Lee and Leslie Liao for Taiwan Plus.
03:01Its first attack has was said to continue to keep a rifle from the sector.
03:05My main LUPS
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