Suspect in killing of 4, including 2 police officers, in Japan is captured after standoff
Police said they arrested a man Friday who had holed up in his father’s house armed with a rifle and a knife after allegedly killing four people, including two police officers, in central Japan.
TV Asahi showed the man with his hands on his head walk out of the house and get ushered toward a police vehicle.
Masanori Aoki, 31, a farmer, was arrested by police under a court warrant on suspicion of murder in Nakano, a city in Nagano prefecture.
Nagano prefectural police chief Iwao Koyama offered condolences to the victims and said the loss of two police officials is “extremely regrettable.” He alleged that the suspect shot to death a police officer in the chest with a hunting rifle.
National Public Safety Commission Chairperson Koichi Tani told reporters Friday that the suspect had licenses for multiple hunting and air guns authorized by the prefectural public safety commission and that his license renewals were properly made.
Tani said that police were investigating his gun usage records and that they planned to take necessary safety measures based on investigation results.
The attack left the 61-year-old driver in critical condition and is the latest high-profile incidence of violence to rock the transit system.
Police said the house was owned by Aoki’s father, a local politician. Koyama said that two women who escaped while the suspect was holed up are the suspect’s mother and aunt and that they were uninjured. NHK said the mother told police that the attacker was her son and that his father was chairman of the city assembly.
Japanese media quoted neighbors who described Aoki as a quiet person and who said they were not aware of any family feud.
Police said earlier that two police officers were shot by a gunman when they arrived at the scene after receiving an emergency call saying a woman had been stabbed. The officers were apparently without bulletproof vests.
On Friday, Nagano police chief said the suspect allegedly stabbed to death the 66-year-old woman with a survival knife.
Virginia cop Austin Lee Edwards spoke to Mychelle Blandin the day he killed her sister and parents, kidnapped her niece and burned down their Riverside home, Blandin told The Times in an interview.
A witness told public broadcaster NHK on Thursday that a woman fell while being chased by the suspect, who then stabbed her with a knife and shot at two police officers as they arrived at the scene in a patrol car.
The woman and the two police officers were pronounced dead at a hospital. An older woman who was injured but could not be rescued because she was near the suspect was found dead early Friday, police said.
During the standoff, TV video showed police wearing bulletproof vests and carrying shields, with an ambulance nearby. Police sealed off a 300-yard radius around the house, and city officials urged people in the quiet farming neighborhood to stay home or at an evacuation center, where about 80 people reportedly took shelter.
Violent crimes are rare in Japan. It has strict gun-control laws and only a handful of gun-related crimes annually. But in recent years, there have been some high-profile cases involving random knifings on subways and arson attacks, and there is growing concern about homemade guns and explosives.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
