Li Hong-yuan Workplace-Revenge Shooting: Retrial Court Unanimously Hands Down Death Sentence
Li Hong-yuan, the perpetrator of the shooting at Kang-jian Biotech in Nantou, was unanimously sentenced to death by a panel of three judges in a retrial, offering the victims' families a long-overdue reckoning.
- In 2022, Li Hong-yuan stormed into his former employer Kang-jian Biotech armed with a gun and carried out an execution-style shooting of five managers, killing four and wounding one; the company's head, Lai Min-nan, survived.
- Both the first and second trials handed down death sentences. The Supreme Court sent the case back on the grounds that the possibility of rehabilitation had not been assessed, but in June 2026 the retrial court determined that the case constituted the "most serious circumstances" and upheld the death sentence.
- He had been locked in a prolonged conflict with his former employer over a labor dispute since 2014, and upon his arrest he shouted "I killed for revenge," showing no remorse after the crime.
- Police worry that the case could produce a "copycat effect," leading more people to treat vigilante justice as a reasonable option and creating a secondary risk to public safety.
- Investigators noted that had the original dispute been handled through mediation or legal channels, the tragedy might have been avoided.
Outlook: Legal experts and police are calling for workplace and labor disputes to be pursued through formal channels such as mediation, the legal system, and labor grievance procedures, and warn against replacing due process with violence.