But the suspect, Chen Yi-hsiung, drowned shortly after the March 19 shooting and police thought it was a suicide because the man prepared a will just before his death, said Hou You-yi, head of the Criminal Investigation Bureau.

"We investigated 119 suspects . . . and Chen Yi-hsiung was the most likely suspect," Hou said.

The pre-election shooting grazed the president's stomach as he was riding in an open-top car in a campaign parade in the southern city of Tainan.

Opposition figures have accused pro-Chen politicians of staging the attack to gain sympathy votes in the March 20 election. Chen repeatedly denied he had anything to do with the shooting.

Hou said video footage shot before the shooting put Chen Yi-hsiung at the scene and an extensive investigation of the weapon used traced it back to the suspect, who purchased the handgun shortly before the shooting.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 12, 2005
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