Liu Pang-yu

Liu Pang-yu (, 30 November 1942 – 21 November 1996) was a Taiwanese politician. He served as the Magistrate of Taoyuan County from 1989 until his death in 1996. Taoyuan County is now Taoyuan City, and the office of the Magistrate is now the office of the Mayor.

Allegations The Control Yuan indicted Liu due to his role in a corruption case involving the extracting of around $360 million U.S. dollars from the Chungli Farmers' Association. Liu also had been placed under investigation in a separate land speculation deal. Asiaweek reported that some people said that he forged his master's degree. For seven years prosecutors attempted to place Liu in prison. A county councilor survived the incident but suffered serious head injuries, memory loss, and a severed spinal cord.

Police believe that two killers entered the residence in the early morning, surprising the guards, who were about to change shifts. After subduing the guards, the killers took the guards' guns and bullets, rounded up the occupants of the residence, and bound them. After blindfolding the victims and forcing them to kneel, the killers shot them in their heads. Some investigators believe that "conflicts of interest" in Liu's politics led to his death.

One of the key suspects in Liu's murder, Yang Shih-kang escaped police custody in 1999. He had a history of abducting politicians and smuggling weapons, which led police to suspect him for Liu's murder.

Impact At the time the shooting was the deadliest mass murder in Taiwanese history, and Liu was the only high-ranking government official to be assassinated in his term. The nature of the shootings and the photographs of the aftermath shocked the Taiwanese. The execution-style slaying of Liu was thought to have revealed governmental corruption, which was cited as one reason Lu won, despite pre-election polls predicting a KMT victory.

Liu's death, along with two later well-publicized murder cases, led to mass demonstrations in May 1997. Demonstrators marched on 4 May 1997 and 18 May 1997, demanding Premier Lien Chan's resignation over the perceived rise in violent crime as evidenced by the then-unsolved murders of Pai Hsiao-yen, Peng Wan-ru, and Liu Pang-yu.