Nagano: A rare gun and knife attack in Japan leaves four dead

[ad_1]

By Shaimaa Khalil and James Fitzgerald BBC News, Tokyo and London May 25, 2023

Updated 23 minutes ago

Image source, Getty Images

photo caption,

Police officers stand guard near the scene of the confrontation after Wednesday’s attack

A man has been arrested after four people were killed in a rare shooting and stabbing in Japan.

The alleged attacker stabbed a woman and shot two policemen with a hunting rifle in Nagano Prefecture. A fourth death was later confirmed.

Police named the suspect as Masanori Aoki, the 31-year-old son of a local politician.

It is even rarer for multiple police officers to be shot, as the last incident occurred over 30 years ago.

In Thursday’s incident, police received a call at around 16:25 (07:25 GMT) about a man who chased and then stabbed a woman, according to Japan’s Kyodo news agency.

An eyewitness working in a nearby field told Kyodo that the man’s attack on his first victim was carried out with a blade about 30 cm (one foot) long.

His motive is unclear. When the witness asked the suspect why he had stabbed the woman, he was told, “I killed her because I wanted to.”

Mr. Aoki – who was wearing a camouflage uniform, a cap, sunglasses and a mask – allegedly fired at police officers who responded to the emergency.

It was not immediately clear how the fourth person – described as an elderly woman – died.

Later, Aoki barricaded himself for hours inside his father’s house in a quiet residential area of ​​Nakano City. His father, Masamichi Aoki, is the head of the Nakano City Council.

Footage from NHK showed police cars and ambulances near the house. Police officers wearing body armor and carrying shields formed a no-go area 300 meters (328 yd) around the house.

The suspect was later released from the house and arrested.

Residents were urged to stay home via email announcements and neighborhood loudspeakers, while police went door-to-door.

Later in the evening, local media broadcast footage of gunshots heard just after 20:00 local time (11:00 GMT) on Thursday.

Some residents had to spend the night elsewhere, while the local school was about to close. But after the arrest, people were told they could go about their day.

A man in his 50s told NHK, “It’s so sad that something like this happened in my neighborhood. I couldn’t sleep all night.”

Japanese social media users expressed their shock and upset over the incident on Twitter, with one calling it an “unforgivable crime”.

Another user asked if the country needed to prepare for more such attacks.

Officials said the suspect, who was reported to be a farmer, had a firearm permit.

Japan has strict gun ownership rules, and only civilians are allowed to own hunting rifles and air rifles. People have to undergo rigorous screening and mental health tests in order to purchase a gun in Japan.

The last incident in which several police officers were killed occurred in 1990, when gang members shot two officers in Okinawa Prefecture.

Abe was Japan’s longest serving prime minister, his death deeply shocking a country where the use of guns is banned and incidents of political violence almost unheard of.

In 2014, there were only six firearm fatalities in Japan, compared to 33,599 in the United States.

Additional reporting by Derek Kaye and Hidharu Tamura.

[ad_2]