At approximately 17:24, a 27-year-old man appeared near the M7 and M8 exits of Taipei Main Station dressed in black body armor and a gas mask, pulling a suitcase. He detonated a smoke grenade, filling the underground concourse with a dense cloud. In the confusion, a 57-year-old man named Yu Chia-chang (余家昶) moved toward the attacker rather than away. Yu was stabbed with a long knife and later died at National Taiwan University Hospital.

The attacker then returned to a nearby hotel to change clothes before moving to a second location. Around 18:00, he threw more smoke grenades outside Zhongshan Station at the entrance to the Eslite Spectrum shopping center and attacked people on the street. He fled into the building and, while being pursued, fell from the roof. Resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful. Two additional men, both aged 37, also died from their injuries. Among the eleven wounded, two were listed in critical condition on the following day.

Yu Chia-chang was 57 years old. Reports later emerged that, eleven years earlier following the 2014 Taipei Metro attack, he had said publicly that he would intervene if he ever witnessed such violence. On 19 December 2025, he did.

In the days that followed, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an announced a commendation certificate and NT$6 million in condolence payments for Yu's family. The Taipei Metro Corporation pledged NT$5 million in compensation and a permanent memorial plaque at the MRT station. On 23 December, Taoyuan Mayor Chang San-cheng announced plans to honor Yu at the Taoyuan Martyrs' Shrine at the 2026 Spring Memorial Service, and moved to seek a Commendation Order from the central government.

Commentators and civic leaders associated with Taiwan's emerging 'No Notoriety' movement urged the public to let his name — Yu Chia-chang — be the one most associated with that evening, rather than the attacker's. Mayor Chiang, in his public statements, referred to the perpetrator only as 'the December 19 suspect.'

Police investigators worked quickly. A cloud drive belonging to the attacker contained a detailed plan labeled '2025/12,' outlining an attack timeline and primary targets. Authorities determined he had been preparing since at least April 2024, purchasing smoke grenades, gas canisters, respirators, and other materials. He had rented an apartment in Zhongshan District in January 2025 and scouted locations in the months before the attack.

On 15 January 2026, the Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office concluded its investigation. The attack was classified as highly planned 'expressive lone-actor violence.' Police ruled out terrorism, organized crime, and any ideological, political, or religious motive. The fall from the Eslite building was determined to have been intentional, not an accident. There were no accomplices.

In the immediate aftermath, security was heightened across Taipei's transit network. A market near Zhongshan Station closed for three days. By the morning of 20 December, the Criminal Investigation Bureau had identified approximately twenty threatening posts online and formed a nationwide task force; at least three individuals were subsequently detained.

Several foreign representative offices in Taipei — which function as de facto embassies — expressed condolences. The American Institute in Taiwan extended sympathies to victims and their families, commending first responders and expressing solidarity with the people of Taiwan. The Czech Economic and Cultural Office similarly offered condolences on behalf of its government.

On 23 December, the attacker's parents appeared outside the funeral parlor where the autopsy had been performed. They wore face coverings and declined to give their names. The father spoke on behalf of both, apologizing 'to everyone' and acknowledging that their son's actions had 'caused serious harm to society and inflicted irreparable damage and suffering on the victims and their families.' They then knelt and bowed three times before a crowd of cameras.

The 2025 Taipei stabbings took the lives of three people who were simply going about their evening in a city they knew well. Yu Chia-chang chose, at the cost of his own life, not to look away. The two 37-year-old men who also died — one of them a bank employee whose funeral was covered by his employer — had families who waited for them that night and did not hear from them again.

The bouquets at Exit M8, the memorial plaque to come, the posthumous honors — these are imperfect gestures toward an irreplaceable loss. They are also, as expressions of grief and respect in a democratic society, a form of witness. To remember the victims by name, and to let their stories stand at the center of what is recalled about that evening, is the least and most that can be done.