Killer sought help

The man who stabbed to death 19 disabled people in a Japanese care home asked a friend to join him in his attack, Japanese media have reported. Satoshi Uematsu, who also wounded 26 people, reacted furiously when his friend refused. He phoned him again two days before the attack on the Tsukui Yamayuri-en care home, where Uematsu once worked. The friend did not report the conversation, one of several failures to appreciate the threat posed by Uematsu, who spoke openly for months of his conviction that disabled people were better off dead, and his intention to kill them. ‘‘I didn’t think he’d actually do it,’’ the friend, who is 27, said.