The 43-year-old said he noticed the suspect acting strangely on April 18 during a celebration at Grand Guandi Temple, The Straits Times reported. Dressed in black, wearing gloves and a white smiley-face mask, the figure stood stiffly in the crowd with what appeared to be a shiny object sticking out of his pocket.
Loye initially assumed the person was part of the performance, but became suspicious when the temple owner approached him and the teen suddenly fled.
Singaporean singer Willis Loye in Taiwan. Photo from Instagram/@willisloye |
Loye, the temple owner and three other men then chased the suspect through a parking lot and several streets for more than 15 minutes. During the pursuit, Loye picked up a long wooden stick for protection and repeatedly told the teen to take off his mask, but he refused and continued running.
According to Liberty Times Netthe suspect was a 17-year-old surnamed Chen who is believed to have mental health issues and had previously undergone hospital treatment and evaluation.
When police arrived and tried to arrest him, he pulled out another knife hidden in his sleeve, cutting the fingers of a policewoman and another man.
After the suspect paused to adjust his hoodie, Loye and another man moved in from behind, struck him with the stick and pinned him down until officers reached the scene.
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Police officers restrain the masked, knife-wielding suspect in Taichung City, Taiwan, on April 18, 2026. Photo from Instagram/@willisloye |
“I wasn’t afraid of the suspect. I was focused on catching him. But, I was worried about being hit by a car or mistaken as the attacker,” Loye said. “He kept struggling so I used my body weight and pressed down on his knees. He was shouting, ‘Don’t remove my mask! Don’t call the police!’”
After the incident, the singer helped clean the injured policewoman’s wounds.
Loye’s account of the episode has since gone viral on Threads, drawing more than one million views and thousands of comments praising his actions.
“There were about 100 people and many kids at the event. I was worried that this would end like the Taipei knife attack where so many got hurt,” he said. “I’m glad we acted fast before the teen attacked others.”
In that incident, a knife-wielding attacker killed three people and injured 11 others during a rampage in central Taipei on Dec. 19, 2025.
Loye, who performs modern temple music, has been based in Taiwan since visiting in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic began.
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