Man Dressed As 'Joker' Attacks 17 People In Tokyo's Underground Train, Sets Fire Inside. Arrested

Witnesses said was dressed in a bright green shirt and purple coat just like Joker, so they assumed he was a party-goer for Halloween.

Screenshot from video shared on Twitter (@anthraxxx781)

New Delhi: A man in Tokyo dressed in a 'Joker' costume attacked about 17 people with a knife in a Tokyo underground train, three of them were in serious condition including a 60-year-old. The attacker is said to be about 24 years old, according to police say media reports. Witnesses also said the attacker had spread fluid around the train and started a fire.

Videos of people scrambling to escape are going viral on social media. 

Man with a knife set fire on a train in Tokyo pic.twitter.com/BnEpyEyyFv

— penanam anggur 2.0 (@anthraxxx781) October 31, 2021

Shunsuke Kimura, who filmed the video, saw passengers desperately running and while he was trying to figure out what happened, he heard an explosive noise and saw smoke wafting. He also jumped from a window but fell on the platform and hurt his shoulder.

“Train doors were closed and we had no idea what was happening, and we jumped from the windows,” Kimura said. “It was horrifying", AP reported Kimura as saying. 

According to a Reuters report, one witness, "I thought it was a Halloween stunt," recalled the moment he saw other passengers running in a panic towards his train car. "Then, I saw a man walking this way, slowly waving a long knife." There was blood on the knife, he said.

The attacker, whom police identified as Kyota Hattori, was arrested on the spot after Sunday’s attack and was being investigated on suspicion of attempted murder, the Tokyo metropolitan police department said Monday.

Joker is a villain from the comic Batman, witnesses told reporters that he was dressed in a bright green shirt and purple coat just like Joker, which witnesses assumed was a party-goer for Halloween. According to AP, police said he told authorities that he wanted to kill people and get the death penalty.

A video posted by a witness on social media showed the suspect seated, with his leg crossed and smoking in one of the train cars, presumably after the attack. 

⭕️#Japan: This is the suspect of the knife attack in #Tokyo. He is wearing a Joker suit. pic.twitter.com/P2s1eoMcek

— 🅻-🆃🅴🅰🅼 (@L_Team10) October 31, 2021

Since the doors were shut people were climbing over the gates to jump out. The attack was the second involving a knife on a Tokyo train in three months.

While shooting deaths are rare in Japan, the country has had a series of high-profile knife killings in recent years, AP reported.