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Japan: Halloween knife attack on train leaves about 17 injured

2021-11-01T08:45:38.482Z


A 24-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in Japan's capital Tokyo following a knife attack on a train that left at least 17 people injured Sunday night, police told CNN.


Tokyo (CNN) -

A 24-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in Japan's capital Tokyo following a knife attack on a train that left at least 17 people injured on Sunday night, he said. the police to CNN.

Witnesses said the suspect was wearing a costume similar to that of the Joker, a character from the Batman franchise.

At least one passenger, a man in his 70s, is in critical condition after being stabbed in the chest, police said.

Cell phone footage showed chaotic scenes from inside the train as the attack on the Keio line unfolded.

In the video, passengers can be seen running through a train car to escape the attacker.

Loud banging and screaming can be heard.

Then a ball of flames explodes, filling the car with smoke.

Emergency workers and police officers on the scene at a train station in Tokyo, Sunday, October 31, 2021.

Passengers can then be seen jumping out of train windows to escape and running along a station platform away from the train, which had made an emergency stop.

According to the Japanese public broadcaster NHK, the suspect was arrested after brandishing a knife and starting a fire on a moving train around 8 p.m. (7 a.m. ET) near Kokuryo Station in the suburban city of Chofu. west of Tokyo.

The train was heading to the busy Shinjuku Station in central Tokyo.

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The alleged attacker used cigarette lighter fluid to light a fire inside the train, causing large flames to briefly rise and burn some seats, NHK reported, citing police.

The man told investigators that he "wanted to kill people and be given the death penalty" and that he expected to kill at least two people, according to police.

He was arrested at the scene by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police on suspicion of attempted murder.

Video tweeted by an eyewitness appears to show the 24-year-old suspect wearing a purple suit and bright green shirt, along with a purple tie, surrounded by police officers inside a Tokyo train.

A police officer can be heard in the video saying "the suspect is in custody."

Firefighters gather in front of Kokuryo Station on the Keio Line in the western Tokyo city of Chofu on October 31, 2021.

Japan recently lifted a long-standing coronavirus state of emergency and Tokyo further eased restrictions on bars and restaurants on October 25, local media reported.

Halloween was probably the first public event that many young people were able to participate in after a long pandemic.

While violent crime is rare in Japan, there have been a number of violent knife attacks by unknown assailants.

In August, 10 passengers on a train in Tokyo were stabbed by a man with a knife, according to the Tokyo Fire Department.

The suspect later turned himself in at a convenience store, NHK reported at the time.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police said the man confessed that he "just wanted to kill any woman who seemed happy, anyone," NHK reported.

In 2019, two people, including an 11-year-old girl, were killed and 17 other children were injured in a wave of stabbings in the city of Kawasaki, about 13 miles from Tokyo.

In 2016, 19 people were killed in an attack on a nursing home for the disabled, the deadliest mass murder in Japan since the end of World War II.

And in June 2008, a man in a pickup truck collided with a crowd in Tokyo's popular Akihabara district and then jumped out of the vehicle and began stabbing pedestrians, killing seven people.

Japan, a country considered one of the safest in the world, strictly regulates weapons.

It is illegal for people to carry a pocket knife, craft knife, hunting knife or box knife in public, according to the US Department of State.

CNN's Yoko Wakatsuki and Miki Lendon contributed reporting.

Halloween

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2021-11-01

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