Suspect in studio fire had criminal record, allegedly was being treated for mental illness
TOKYO » Moments after a lighter was put to a pool of gas at a renowned animé studio in Kyoto, Japan, igniting an explosive fire that killed 34 people, Shinji Aoba tried to run away from the scene.
Aoba, who has been named a suspect in the alleged arson, did not get far, as he was badly burned himself. Chased down by studio workers, he fell to the ground, and several witnesses captured the scene on their cellphones. The police swarmed around him as he lay on the street.
“I did it because they stole my novel,” he said, according to police officials cited by NHK, the public broadcaster.
“They plagiarized my work,” he said. “Call the president. I have something to tell him.”
The picture emerging of Aoba was of an unstable 41-year-old with a troubled past. Police sources cited by NHK said he had served prison time for robbery and was being treated for an unspecified mental illness. Aoba has not yet been officially arrested because police officials said his medical needs are too critical.
The nation was shocked by the blaze at the studio, Kyoto Animation, which appeared to be the worst mass killing in Japan in decades. The victims have not yet been identified publicly; according to the Kyoto Police, some of the bodies are burned so badly that they are difficult to identify.
According to sources cited in several news outlets, Aoba was arrested in 2012 on a charge of robbing a convenience store in Ibaraki, northeast of Tokyo. Aoba served more than three years in prison.
Aoba eventually moved to his own apartment in Saitama, a suburban area north of Tokyo, although police sources said it was not clear whether he held a job.
A neighbor in Aoba’s building told The Jiji Press that Aoba had banged on his door this month and rattled the doorknob. When the neighbor answered the door, Aoba grabbed him and shouted: “I will kill you. I have nothing to lose.”
Hideaki Hatta, who founded Kyoto Animation with his wife, Yoko Hatta, in 1981, told the Mainichi Shimbun that the company had received a number of death threats in the past two years, although he said Aoba’s name did not appear in any of the threatening emails.