CCTV footage from a building in Incheon shows a man suspected of committing a knife attack at the food court on Oct. 13.NEWS1
A man accused of stabbing eight people at a large commercial complex in Incheon on Tuesday told police that he didn’t intend to kill anyone and that he carried out the attack to draw attention to his grievances over hospital treatment for foot fungus and a police probe against him.
“I was unhappy with the treatment I received at the hospital, and I was also upset that I became the subject of a police investigation after the hospital reported me,” the suspect told police, according to the Incheon Namdong Police Station on Wednesday.
The man had been staging a one-person protest outside a hospital in Gyeyang District, Incheon, since August because he believed treatment he received there for athlete’s foot had failed to improve his condition.
Police booked him in September for possessing a weapon in a public place after he was found carrying one during the protest. He was questioned at the Incheon Gyeyang Police Station on Oct. 6.
The suspect told police that anger over being reported by the hospital and subsequently questioned by police led him to plan the attack.
“I wanted to make the issue known to society and committed the crime to attract attention,” the suspect said. “I did not target anyone in particular. I just chose people who looked weaker than me, but I didn't intend to kill them.”
Police are now investigating why the suspect attacked random people at a commercial complex rather than the hospital at the center of his grievances.
Three criminal profilers have also joined the investigation to assess the credibility of his statements.
“The suspect has made claims about his motive, but it does not make common sense that he would attack complete strangers at a commercial complex rather than the hospital he was dissatisfied with,” a police official said. “We plan to continue investigating.”
Police tape surrounds the food court at a shopping complex in Namdong District, Incheon, after a stabbing attack on Oct. 13.NEWS1
Police plan to seek a detention warrant for the suspect on charges of attempted murder and possession of a weapon in a public place.
Police revised the number of victims in the attack from nine to 10, though the number of people physically injured remains eight.
One newly identified victim escaped injury because the tip of the suspect’s weapon struck a pack of cigarettes in a clothing pocket. Another victim had clothing torn but suffered no physical injuries.
One woman was found in cardiac arrest and underwent emergency surgery on Tuesday. Her heartbeat returned after surgery, but she remains unconscious and is unable to breathe on her own. She is currently on a ventilator.
Of the seven other injured victims, five remain hospitalized at medical facilities across Incheon, while two with relatively minor injuries are receiving outpatient treatment.
The two victims who were not physically injured have returned home.
A store owner who subdued the suspect in the Oct. 13 stabbing rampage points toward an escalator at the commercial complex in Namdong District, Incheon, where the attack took place.BYUN MIN-CHUL
Police also found that the suspect was carrying a large quantity of medication at the time of the attack.
The packaging bore the name of a neuropsychiatric clinic, which has led investigators to believe the drugs may have been prescription medication rather than narcotics.
A preliminary drug test conducted on the suspect came back negative.
Police have nevertheless asked the National Forensic Service to analyze the substances to determine exactly what they contain and whether any are classified as narcotics.
Investigators plan to review the suspect’s statements alongside the evidence collected so far to determine whether the attack was premeditated and establish his specific motive.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
