A victim from Thursday’s car rampage and stabbing in South Korea was declared dead early Sunday morning, according to officials, the first fatality in the attack, which had injured 14 people and unsettled a nation where mass violence is uncommon.
The victim, a woman in her 60s, was declared dead at 2 a.m. Sunday, according to the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police. She had been hospitalized for her injuries after being hit by the car.
The suspect, a 23-year-old male delivery worker who has been identified only by his surname, Choi, drove onto a sidewalk near a subway station in Seongnam, a city southeast of Seoul. After hitting five pedestrians with his car, he went into the subway station and stabbed nine people before being apprehended and charged with attempted murder. That charge has now been updated to murder. The police have not announced a motive behind Mr. Choi’s actions.
After arresting Mr. Choi on Thursday, the police gave him a drug test, which came back negative. Mr. Choi, a high school dropout, had been diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder, according to the authorities.
Thursday’s attack, which the authorities have said is being treated as an “act of terror,” comes shortly after another stabbing episode last month in Seoul that killed one and injured three.
The seemingly random nature of the attacks has spread fear, which the police have sought to tamp down by dispatching more officers to public areas and posting warning messages through official channels. As of Sunday, dozens of people had been arrested in connection with posting online threats of copycat attacks that specified times, locations and number of targets. At least one person was arrested after he was observed carrying knives in public.
