Japanese police arrest suspect in fatal shooting and stabbing

EPA The house where the suspect was hiding

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 07:39

A suspect has been arrested in Japan in the shooting and stabbing that killed four people yesterday. The 31-year-old man had barricaded himself with a gun in his father’s house for twelve hours before he was arrested.

Two police officers are among the dead. They had come to a report that the man was chasing a woman, who fell after which he stabbed her. He fired on the officers. She and the woman died in hospital.

The fourth victim of the shooting and stabbing was an elderly woman. She lay wounded near the house where the man was hiding. She also passed away.

The suspect likely used a shotgun and was wearing camouflage clothing, a hat, mask and sunglasses.

“This is a heinous crime that has caused great fear among the inhabitants of the prefecture and society as a whole,” the police chief said at a news conference.

Strict gun laws

Violence in Nakano, in central Japan’s Nagano prefecture, began around 4:30 p.m. local time yesterday. The suspect is the son of the chairman of the city council, says the public television channel NHK. The suspect’s mother and aunt were in the house when he locked herself in there, but managed to escape.

This kind of violence is uncommon in Japan. The country has strict gun laws and people who want a firearm have to meet all kinds of requirements. The suspect did have a shotgun license, authorities say. A motive for the violence is not yet known.

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