This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/25/tokyo-knife-attack-stabbing-sagamihara

The article has changed 14 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 5 Version 6
Japan knife attack: 19 killed and dozens wounded in stabbing Japan knife attack: 19 killed and dozens wounded in care centre stabbing
(about 2 hours later)
At least 19 people are reported to have been killed and another 26 injured after a man went on a rampage with a knife at a Japanese facility for disabled people in the early hours of Tuesday. A man who claimed he wanted to kill disabled people left at least 19 dead and 26 others injured after a knife attack at a care facility in Japan.
Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said a suspect had been arrested after he attacked residents of the Tsukui Yamayuri En (Tsukui Lily Garden) facility in Sagamihara in Kanagawa prefecture, south of Tokyo. Petrified staff at the Tsukui Yamayuri En (Tsukui Lily Garden) facility in Sagamihara, south of Tokyo, called police at about 2.30am local time after the suspect, named by Japanese media as Satoshi Uematsu, launched his attack.
A 26-year-old former employee of the facility, had admitted carrying out the attack, local media said.
The suspect was quoted by police as saying “I want to get rid of the disabled from this world,” the newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported. Other outlets including the New York Times have quoted him as saying disabled people should “disappear”.
Related: Japan attack: suspect turns himself in after 15 killed in stabbing – liveRelated: Japan attack: suspect turns himself in after 15 killed in stabbing – live
Japanese media reported that staff at the facility called police at 2.30am local time with reports of a man armed with a knife on the grounds. Emergency workers said at least 20 of the wounded had sustained serious injuries, according to the Kyodo news agency.
When authorities arrived they confirmed at least 15 people had died with four more people in cardiac arrest, according to media reports. Japan’s Kyodo news agency later put the death toll at 19, citing authorities. If confirmed, the attack would be one of the worst crimes in Japanese postwar history. Police in Kanagawa prefecture said Uematsu had driven to the nearby Tsukui police station and turned himself in after the attack.
The dozens of wounded were taken to at least six hospitals in western Tokyo. Emergency workers said many of the injured people were in a serious condition. “I did it,” he was quoted as saying. The 26-year-old is believed to be a former employee of the facility.
Twenty-nine emergency squads responded to the attack, Kyodo reported. He is said to have added: “It is better that disabled people disappear.”
Local residents and relatives of the residents rushed to the scene following news of the attack, but are reportedly waiting for local officials to release the names of the dead and injured, local media said. Uematsu, a resident of Sagamighara, was carrying a bag full of knives and other sharp-edged tools, some of which were bloodstained, when he handed himself in.
A man identified as the father of a patient in the facility told NHK he learned about the attack on the radio and had received no information from the centre. A police spokesman declined to give details of the investigation, saying: “We are still confirming details of the case.”
“I’m very worried but they won’t let me in,” he said, standing just outside a cordon of yellow crime-scene tape. Nine women and 10 men were killed, the fire department was quoted as saying, and they ranged in age from 18 to 70.
The facility is home to 149 residents aged between 19 and 75. Kyodo news agency said 40 of them are aged over 60. Police have yet to formally establish a motive for the attack, the worst in terms of postwar loss of life since the Aum Supreme Truth doomsday cult released poisonous sarin gas on the Tokyo subway in 1995, killing 12. That attack was apparently in an attempt to kill civil servants working at government ministries.
According to police in Sagamihara a man turned himself in at a police station about two hours after the attack. NTV said Uematsu had forced his way into the building by smashing a window with a hammer. The private broadcaster said he had been upset after being fired, but that could not be independently confirmed.
He left a knife in his car when he entered the station. He has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and trespassing. Television footage from a helicopter showed a long line of ambulances parked outside the two-storey state-run facility, which houses about 150 people with disabilities and is located near a primary school and private homes.
Police said they were investigating the motive behind the mass attack. “We are still confirming details of the case,” a police spokesman said. The wounded were taken to at least six hospitals in the western Tokyo area. Twenty-nine emergency squads responded to the attack, Kyodo reported.
TV footage taken from a helicopter over the scene showed a long line of ambulances parked outside the two-storey facility. A man identified as the father of a person in the facility told NHK he learned about the attack on the radio and had received no information from the centre.
It appeared that emergency workers were removing the dead and treating the injured beneath a large orange tarpaulin screen. “I’m very worried but they won’t let me in,” he said, standing just outside a cordon of yellow crime-scene tape. Other relatives said they were still waiting to be given information about the rampage, news of which dominated early morning TV shows.
A resident of the area, located in a mountain valley south of Mount Takao, told NHK that police had arrested a man with blond hair dressed in black clothes. Images appeared of emergency workers removing the dead and treating the injured beneath a large orange tarpaulin screen.
The Tsukui Yamayuri-En facility is situated in three hectares (7.6 acres) of grounds. Established by the local government and nestled on the wooded bank of the Sagami river, it cares for people with a wide range of disabilities. A resident of the area, located in a mountain valley south of Mount Takao, told public broadcaster NHK that police had arrested a man with blond hair dressed in black clothes.
The facility has a swimming pool, gym and medical clinic, according to Kyodo News. A woman who lives nearby told NHK that she saw police cars enter the facility at about 3.30am. “I was told by a policeman to stay inside my house, as it could be dangerous,” she said. “Then ambulances began arriving, and people covered in blood were taken away.”
Mass killing are relatively rare in Japan, which has extremely strict gun control laws. In 2008, seven people were killed by a man who slammed a truck into a crowd of people in central Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics district and then stabbed passers-by. The Tsukui Yamayuri-En facility is situated in three hectares (7.6 acres) of grounds. Established by the local government and located on the banks of the Sagami river, it cares for people with a wide range of disabilities. The facility has a swimming pool, gym and medical clinic, according to Kyodo.
Fourteen were injured in 2010 by an unemployed man who stabbed and beat up passengers on two public buses outside a Japanese train station in Ibaraki prefecture, about 25 miles (40 kilometres) north-east of Tokyo. The facility, 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Tokyo, is home to 149 residents aged between 19 and 75; about 40 are over 60.
Mass killing are relatively rare in Japan, considered one of the safest countries in the world, but it has experienced sporadic, and deadly, attacks.
In 2001, eight children died and 19 other were inured when a man forced his way into a primary school and began a frenzied knife attack.
In 2008, seven people were killed by a man who slammed a truck into a crowd of people in central Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics district and then stabbed passers-by.
Fourteen people were injured in 2010 by an unemployed man who stabbed and assaulted bus passengers outside a railway station north-east of Tokyo.