The son of Kuomintang honorary chairman Lien Chan was shot in the head during a campaign rally outside Taipei last night, just hours before voters elect mayors of five municipalities in Taiwan today.
The shooting of Lien Sheng-wen, 40, seen as one of the new generation of KMT leaders, marked the first bloodshed in what had been a relatively peaceful election, prompting an indignant Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou to order all-out efforts to protect candidates.
Lien Sheng-wen, deputy campaign manager for Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin, who is running for a second four-year term, was about to make a speech at a rally in Yungho when the gunman leapt onto the stage.
A spokeswoman for National Taiwan University Hospital, where Lien Sheng-wen was taken for emergency treatment, said he was shot in the left side of his face but his life was not in danger.
'The bullet did not go through his brain and the patient remains clear in all senses and shows steady life signs,' the spokeswoman said.
Police said the gunman, identified as Lin Cheng-wei, 48, was arrested immediately. 'He pressed the gun against the head of Lien and shot him,' a police officer said.
He added that a supporter sitting near the stage was killed by the same bullet which exited from the right side of Lien's forehead. The victim was identified as Wang Yun-sheng, 29, who died on the way to hospital.
