Care home killer ‘wanted to rid the world of disabled’

THE first picture emerged today of a knifeman who slaughtered 19 disabled people at a care home in Japan.

Satoshi Uematsu broke into the centre by smashing a window, hacking residents to death and seriously injuring 26 people as they slept. Nine women and 10 men, aged between 19 and 70, were killed in the country’s worst mass murder in decades.

Today it emerged that the 26-year-old had expressed a “willingness to kill disabled people” only a few months ago. He targeted the Tsukui Lily Garden centre in Sagamihara, about 25 miles from Tokyo.

A cit y official said the suspect, a former employee, was “involuntarily committed” to hospital for nearly two weeks in Febru ar y af t er tr ying to present a letter to parliament in which he threatened to kill hundreds of disabled people.

Broadcaster NTV reported Uematsu as writing in the letter: “My goal is a world in which, in cases where it is difficult for the severely disabled to live at home and be socially active, they can be euthanised with the consent of their guardians.” Uematsu had reportedly detailed plans threatening to carry out such an attack at night as fewer staff would be working.

Staff called police at 2.30am local time today to report a man armed with a knife in the grounds of the 7.6-acre site. The centre has capacity for 160 people, including staff.

Uematsu handed himself in to police who recovered a bag containing several knives, including at least one stained with blood. He reportedly told officers: “I want to get rid of the disabled from this world.”

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said: “This is a very heartwrenching and shocking incident in which many innocent people became victims.”