Teen sent to public prosecutors over knife rampage

The Mainichi Shimbun
January 7, 2008
Source: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/archive/news/2008/01/07/20080107p2a00m0na009000c.html

A knife-wielding 16-year-old who went on a rampage on a shopping street in Tokyo's Shinagawa-ku, slashing five people, was sent to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on Monday, police said.

The teen, whose name has been withheld because he is a minor, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following the attack on Saturday. The 16-year-old had reportedly attended a hospital for several years to receive treatment for a psychological ailment, and was receiving medicine. Investigators are examining whether he needs a psychiatric evaluation.

The 16-year-old is accused of slashing five people in an attack at the Togoshi Ginza shopping street in Shinagawa-ku at about 3:20 p.m. on Saturday, injuring two women aged 42 and 30. The clothes of the other three victims were cut in the attack.

When questioned by police, the teen said that he had been troubled over relationships, law enforcers said.

The teen has told investigators that he purchased knives at a 100 yen shop in Shinagawa-ku on the afternoon before the attack.

（Mainichi Japan） January 7, 2008

Teen held for knife attacks on 5 people

The Asahi Shimbun
January 7, 2008
Source: http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200801070054.html

A 16-year-old boy was arrested Saturday after five people were attacked with knives at the Togoshi-Ginza shopping street in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward that afternoon.

Two women were slightly injured in the attacks, while two other women and a man escaped with slashed clothes.

A passer-by called the police around 3:25 p.m. Saturday and said, "A man is wielding kitchen knives, hurting someone."

Two police officers rushed to the crowded shopping street and caught the second-year high school student near the end of the street as he chased after pedestrians.

He was caught with a kitchen knife in each hand. Another knife was hidden in his shoe.

He later told police he had purchased the three knives at a 100-yen shop in the ward shortly before the attack.

He did not resist arrest and responded calmly to questioning, the police said.

Police quoted him as saying, "I wanted to kill anyone I met."

He used to attend sessions with a psychiatrist and had "some relationship problems," according to investigative sources.

The suspect lives in Shinagawa Ward and goes to a private high school in Tokyo.

Eyewitnesses told police the teenager, wearing a black jacket and jeans, attacked pedestrians one after another in the span of a few minutes along a 200 to 300 meter stretch on the 1.2-kilometer street.

A witness said he shouted, "I will kill you," as he went.

The boy first slashed the left side of a 30-year-old woman's chest. He then stabbed a 42-year-old woman in the left side of her back near Togoshi-Ginza Station on the Tokyu Ikegami Line, police said.

Both women suffered minor cuts that will take about 10 days to heal.

The boy also attacked an 18-year-old high school girl, cutting about 25 centimeters of the back of her sweat shirt. He slashed at a 28-year-old woman and cut several parts of her coat.

A 61-year-old man was also attacked and 40 cm of his coat was cut, a witness said.

The street, studded with about 400 shops, stretches to the east and west of the station.

The incident upset many shoppers who had come to the famous shopping precinct on the first weekend of the new year.(IHT/Asahi: January 7,2008)

Teen assailant cites relationship woes

The Japan Times
Monday, Jan. 7, 2008
Source: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080107a2.html

Kyodo News--A 16-year-old boy arrested after injuring two people in a knife attack on five people on a Tokyo street has told police he had "some relationship problems," investigative sources said Sunday.

But the suspect, a second-year high school student from Shinagawa Ward, has not told police further details about his motive in the Saturday afternoon incident, the sources said. His name has been withheld because he is a minor.

His family told police the boy has been visiting a psychiatric hospital for a few years, the sources said, adding his mental competency is being carefully examined.

According to investigations and witnesses, the youth attacked the five people on a shopping street in Shinagawa Ward outside Togoshi Ginza Station on the Tokyu Ikegami Line while shouting, "I will kill you" and "I am not wrong."

He told the police that he bought the three knives in his possession at the time of the attack at a ¥100 shop earlier in the afternoon, the sources said.

The teen reportedly responded calmly when police questioned him.

Two female company workers, aged 30 and 42, sustained slight injuries to the back, chest and other parts of their bodies, the police said.

The three other people — an 18-year-old high school girl, a 28-year-old female temporary worker and a 61-year-old man — were not injured, but their clothing and other items were slashed, the police said.

According to the police, the teen, who was wearing a black jacket and black jeans, was holding a kitchen knife in each hand and had a knife hidden in his shoe.

The Japan Times
(C) All rights reserved