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Police in the city of Nakano, Japan, announced on Friday that they had apprehended a suspect after a bizarre shooting and stabbing rampage that killed four people, including two police officers. The suspect is reportedly the son of Aoki Masamichi, speaker of the Nakano city assembly.
Nakano police said they received a call on Thursday afternoon that a man chased a woman down and stabbed her with a foot-long knife.
“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,” said a 72-year-old eyewitness. The attacker then stabbed the woman in the chest.
“Why would you do such a thing?” the eyewitness asked. He said the camouflage-clad assailant replied: “I killed because I wanted to.”
The witness called for an ambulance while other onlookers tried to revive the woman, but they were unable to save her.
When police officers responded to the call, the assailant fatally shot two of them with a long gun, variously described as either a hunting rifle or a shotgun. One account of the shootings said the suspect walked up to a police car as it arrived on the scene and fired through the windows at point-blank range, killing the officers inside.
The attacker then fled into the home of assembly speaker Aoki Masamichi and barricaded himself inside for about 12 hours, while police with body armor and riot shields surrounded the home.
