Police have arrested a man after a rare shooting and stabbing incident in Japan. The alleged killer stabbed a woman before firing a shotgun at police. It was later found that the fourth victim, an elderly woman, was killed, but it is not clear how she died.
Police named the suspect as Masanori Aoki, the 31-year-old son of Nakano city assembly speaker.
A witness told public broadcaster NHK that a woman fell while chasing the suspect, who then stabbed her and shot two police officers as they arrived at the scene in Nakano, Nagano Prefecture.
According to Kyodo News, the witness asked him: “Why would you do such a thing?” The criminal replied: “I killed him because I wanted to.”
The attacker then barricaded himself in his father’s house in Nakamo with his mother and aunt.
His father, Masamichi Aoki, was not present at home.
The suspect was believed to have committed the initial murder of the woman using a leg-extending blade.
After the incident, the three were taken to a nearby hospital, where the woman was later pronounced dead, police said.
The two policemen also died later, NHK reports.
A fourth person, believed to be an elderly woman, who was injured could not be rescued as she was near the suspect’s hideout.
NHK television footage showed uniformed police wearing bulletproof vests and carrying shields near the ambulance.
The footage also shows police cars racing to the scene.
Another witness said: “I heard sounds from ambulances and police cars.
“There was an announcement over the loudspeaker urging people to stay home because there had been a shooting.”
The city authorities called on those in the area to stay at home.
Gun violence is rare in Japan, which has one of the lowest gun crime rates in the world as a result of extremely strict gun control laws.
The last time several police officers were shot dead in the country was in 1990, following a gang-related incident in Okinawa Prefecture.
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