Crime & Justice

Man arrested after four killed in Nagano gun, knife attack

(Update 1: Adds details about suspect in pars 5 and 7, minor edits)

Tokyo, May 26 (EFE).- A man was arrested early Friday morning near the Japanese city of Nakano, after four people died in a stabbing and shooting incident during which the suspect barricaded himself inside a house.

The incident began at around 4.30 pm Thursday (09:30 GMT) when the suspect allegedly stabbed a woman and then opened fire at two police officers dispatched to the scene with what appeared to be a hunting rifle, public broadcaster NHK reported. All three people died.

The suspect then fled and barricaded himself in his father’s home from which two other women, including the suspect’s mother, separately escaped during the night.

An elderly woman who was found outside the house also died.

At around 4.30 am on Friday, a man was captured by police outside the house, according to NHK.

The detainee is Masanori Aoki, 31, the eldest son of the speaker of the assembly of the city in central Nagano prefecture, local police confirmed.

The 57-year-old assembly speaker was confirmed safe.

Aoki was arrested over the murder of one of the policemen, while evidence continues to be sought in relation to the other deaths, for which new charges are expected to be laid.

The two male police officers who died were identified as Yoshiki Tamai, 46, and Takuo Ikeuchi, 61, Kyodo news reported.

The motive for the attack is not known.

Police cordoned off a 300-meter perimeter around the crime scene.

The incident shocked the residents of a normally quiet area dotted with houses and rice fields.

Japan has one of the lowest homicide and firearms incident rates in the world, and such incidents are rare. EFE

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