Japanese Police during the early hours of Friday arrested a man who has been suspected of killing four people including two police officers in a gun and knife attack. He was apprehended from outside a farm property neat Nakano city's Nagano region. A police spokesperson while talking to the news agency AFP said that the suspect was detained at around 4:30 am. He was holed up in a building after the attack. He allegedly stabbed the victims with a large knife before using a hunting rifle to shoot two policemen who were present there following an emergency call. The officers that were killed were identified as Yoshiki Tamai (46) and Takuo Ikeuchi (61). The attack started on Thursday afternoon after which authorities had urged the people living in the semi-rural area of central Japan to stay indoors.
What Went Down
A 72-year-old witness informed the NHK public broadcaster that he was working at a nearby farm when "a woman came running from the road saying ‘help me’ and she fell down. Behind her came a man wearing camouflage and carrying a large knife, who stabbed her in the back.” The witness said that he dialed the emergency services while the neighbours were trying to resuscitate her. NHK while citing police officials said that the attacker then fired at police officers who arrived at the scene from an alleged shotgun.
As per NHK, the officers were sitting inside a patrol car when the accused placed the weapon against a window of the car and fired twice. After the murders, the suspect hid in the residence of the speaker of the Nakano city assembly and his father for several hours, as reported by Kyodo news agency. As per the Guardian, two women including the suspect's mother escaped the house when he came to hide.
There was no known motive for the attack.
Japan which has a low murder rate and some of the world's toughest gun laws was still recovering from the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and this attack freshened the wounds.