19 die in Japan care home stabbings

Former worker told police ‘disabled should disappear’

SAGAMIHARA, JAPAN // A man who had threatened attacks on the disabled yesterday killed 19 people in a stabbing spree at a care centre where he used to worked.

The attack in Sagamihara, a city of more than 700,000 people west of Tokyo, left nine men and 10 women dead and 25 people wounded, 20 of them seriously. The dead were between 18 and 70 years of age.

The attacker was identified as Satoshi Uematsu, a 26-year-old who was taken to hospital this year after threatening to kill hundreds of disabled people. He had worked at the Tsukui Yamayuri-en care centre until February, although it was not clear whether he was sacked or resigned.

Uematsu broke into the centre through a first-floor window in the early morning and tied up a carer before starting to stab residents, reported public broadcaster NHK.

After the attack, he walked into a police station carrying bloodstained knives and told officers: “I did it.”

“The disabled should all disappear,” he said.

Police said they received a call from the centre about 2.30am – 20 minutes after the assault began – and Uematsu turned himself in half an hour later.

A doctor at one of the hospitals where victims were taken said some had deep wounds to the neck. “The patients are very shocked and they cannot speak now,” he said.

Japan has one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the developed world and the mass killing is believed to be the nation’s worst since 1938, when a man armed with an axe, sword and rifle went on a rampage that killed 30 people. Uematsu had threatened to attack two care centres, including Tsukui Yamayuri- en, and kill 470 residents, in a letter he delivered to the speaker of Japan’s parliamentary lower house in February.

He said it would launch a revolution that would “stimulate the economy and prevent World War III”.

He also presented a vision of a society in which the seriously handicapped could be subject to euthanasia with the approval of family members since “hand- icapped people only create unhappiness”. The ramblings brought him to the attention of Tokyo police, who told Sagamihara authorities that he was a potential threat.

A Sagamihara official said Uematsu was taken to hospital on February 19 but was discharged 12 days later when a doctor deemed he was not a threat. While in care he was found to be suffering from paranoia as well as being dependent on cannabis.

“I feel pain as it’s said there was no problem, but that was the decision at that time,” said Eiji Yagi, who is in charge of the city’s mental health welfare section.

People in Uematsu’s neighbourhood, about a 10-minute walk from the crime scene, expressed disbelief.

He was a “normal, nice boy” who always smiled and offered a greeting, said Akihiro Hasegawa, his next-door neighbour.

The mass killing is believed to be the nation’s worst since 1938