Nineteen people were feared dead and 45 injured after an attack by a knife-wielding man at a facility for the disabled in Japan early on Tuesday, national broadcaster NHK reported.
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Mass killings are rare in Japan, which has strict gun laws.
The suspect, 26, walked into a police station and said “I did it”, Japanese media reported. He’s said to have left the knife in his auto when he entered the police station. However, this is not the first mass stabbing incident in Japan.
The facility has about 150 long-term residents with learning difficulties and physical disabilities, NHK said – some as young as 18, others as old as 75.
Police said there were several casualties but did not provide any numbers but the Sagamihara City fire brigade said 19 people died in the attack and that figure was confirmed by doctors at the scene.
According to its website, the residential care facility for the disabled was set up by the Kanagawa prefectural government and run by a social welfare corporation.
The alleged assailant turned himself in after 3 am (1800 GMT Monday), admitting he had carried out the attack, a police spokesman said.
Japanese TV showed dozens of ambulances outside the facility in Sagamihara, which is just west of the capital city. The worker told them something frightful was happening.
Police have not released an official death toll.
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The attack occurred on the same date that a man with a history of mental illness stabbed eight children to death at an Osaka primary school in 2001.
