THREE DEAD, 16 WOUNDED IN JAPAN MASS STABBING
A knife-wielding attacker killed a 12-year-old schoolgirl and a man before stabbing himself to death in a rampage outside Tokyo on Tuesday that also injured more than a dozen, including several children.
The mass stabbing in the town of Kawasaki, south of the Japanese capital, was a rare attack in a country with one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the developed world, and there was no immediate detail on the suspect’s motive.
Kanagawa prefectural police confirmed the death of sixthgrade schoolgirl Hanako Kuribayashi from Tokyo. Hospital officials at a televised news conference confirmed her death as well as that of a man in his 30s, saying both had been slashed in the head, chest and face.
Harrowing
Doctors at St. Marianna University School of Medicine said a man in his 50s died at the hospital after being brought in from the crime scene with neck injuries. City officials and the media said the man was the suspect.
Emergency services said at least 16 others had been injured in the attack.
“It is a very harrowing case. I feel strong anger,” Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in televised remarks.
“I offer my heartfelt condolences to the victims and hope the injured recover quickly.”
Witnesses described a hellish scene: children and adults falling to the ground, some with their shirts soaked with blood; dozens of children running and screaming for help with their school bags and books scattered on the ground.
“I heard a scream so I stopped and turned around to see what happened. It was not a normal tone of voice,” said Yasuko Atsukata, adding that she then saw one person collapse, and then another one. “The color of their white shirts turned red after they collapsed, then I understood they got stabbed.”
The attack occurred during the busy early morning commute as workers headed to their offices and children to school. Fire department officials said they received the first emergency calls shortly before 8 a.m. local time.