Police apprehended a man who held a pregnant woman at knifepoint in a Seoul department store on Wednesday.
According to Gangnam Police Station, 35-year-old Lee grabbed the woman by her hair and held her hostage while brandishing a kitchen knife at the Hyundai Department Store COEX branch.
“Around 10 a.m. right after the store opened its doors, there was a young man who was hanging around and laughing suspiciously,” said one witness whose name was not disclosed.
“He suddenly grabbed a knife on display, which sent other items crashing to the floor.”
A store employee said that within moments of the beginning of the standoff “the entire department store was engulfed in fear as everyone just started screaming and running down the stairs.”
Police reported that earlier the suspect in custody had started a fire in a bookstore located in COEX and ran away before another customer noticed the fire.
The police say that the casually dressed, long-haired man did not make any demands while holding the woman hostage on the seventh floor of the store.
He was arrested by police within an hour of the incident.
The hostage, five months pregnant, fainted after being released and is being treated at a neighboring hospital.
Police report that Kim and her infant are both in a healthy condition. Police said that they are analyzing CCTV footage and questioning the suspect in custody for a motive.
Police said Lee repeatedly referred them to an online post he had written in which he rants about doomsday prophecies.
By Robert Lee(
robert@heraldcorp.com)
