Murder Suspect's Name and Photos Rapidly Spread on Social Media

Police Focus on Determining Motive for the Crime

The personal information of Jang (24), who murdered a high school girl he had never met before and critically injured a male high school student, is spreading through social networking services (SNS).

On the morning of the 7th, suspect Jang was moving after completing the pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant hearing) at Gwangju District Court in Dong-gu, Gwangju. Photo by Yonhap News.

On May 9th, Jang's name and both recent and adolescent photos were distributed on social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. It has been reported that the recent photo matches the profile picture on Jang's SNS account.

Some SNS users have also shared posts claiming to reveal the occupations and recent status of Jang's family members. However, these claims have not been fact-checked and their accuracy remains unconfirmed.

The Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency convened a review committee the previous day and decided to disclose Jang's personal information. However, since Jang refused to give consent, the official release has been postponed in accordance with procedure to May 14, five days later.

In the meantime, Jang's real name and photographs were disseminated and rapidly spread among SNS users within a day.

A police official stated, "At this stage, we are focusing on identifying the motive for the crime."

The Gwangsan Police Station in Gwangju, which is investigating the case, conducted an underwater search over the past several days in a stream where Jang claimed to have thrown away his smartphone before committing the crime, but the search was called off after failing to produce any significant results.

Jang has not made any notable statements regarding whether he was inspired by similar brutal crimes.

It is reported that he continues to repeat only that "life was no longer enjoyable, I was contemplating suicide, decided to commit the crime, and wanted to take someone with me."

The police are currently conducting digital forensic analysis of the smartphone confiscated at the time of arrest and have also performed a psychopathy (antisocial personality disorder) assessment.

At around 12:11 a.m. on May 5, in a secluded walkway in Wolgye-dong, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, Jang was arrested on charges of murder and attempted murder after killing a second-year high school girl (A, 17) and attacking another high school boy (B, 17) with a weapon.

Jang testified that he committed the crime against the high school girl, whom he had crossed paths with twice while wandering around his neighborhood, without any specific motive.

The second victim, a male second-year high school student, happened to be passing by at the time of the crime and tried to help after hearing the girl's screams.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.