Japan arson horror
33 die after screamer torches animation studio
A man screaming “You die!” set an animation studio in Japan ablaze Thursday — killing 33 people and wounding at least 36 others in an attack that shocked the nation.
The 41-year-old suspected arsonist, who has not been identified, was injured in the conflagration at the Kyoto Animation Co. studio. He is not a company employee, officials said.
He was later arrested by police, who said he was carrying a backpack containing several knives and admitted to the crime, though his motive remained unclear.
The suspect entered the threestory building at about 10:35 a.m and began dousing the structure with gasoline before setting it alight near the front door, forcing people to scramble up the stairs toward the roof in a desperate attempt to escape, local media reported.
Of the 33 people who perished in the building, “two were found on the ground floor, 11 on the second and 20 on the third and also on the staircases that lead to the rooftop,” fire official Kazuhiro Hayashi said.
Some of the three dozen injured were in critical condition, according to officials, who said that all of the roughly 70 people inside the building duringthe blaze had been accounted for.
A person who saw the suspect being approached by police told NHK public TV that he had burns on his arms and legs — and that he was complaining that something of his had been “stolen,” possibly by the company.
“He sounded like he had a grudge against society, and he was talking angrily to the policemen, too, though he was struggling with pain,” the witness told Kyodo News. “He also sounded like he had a grudge against Kyoto Animation.”
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe offered his condolences and expressed his horror on Twitter.
“So many people were killed or injured. It’s so appalling, I can’t find a word to say,” he wrote. “I pray for . . . their souls.”
Studio CEO Hideaki Hatta told reporters, “I am heartbroken,” and added, “It is unbearable that the people who helped carry Japan’s animation industry were hurt and lost their lives in this way.”
The attack was the worst mass killing in Japan since 2016, when a man fatally stabbed 19 people at an assisted-living facility in Tokyo.