Police officers stand guard a facility for the handicapped where a number of people were killed and dozens injured in a knife attack Tuesday, July 26, 2016, in Sagamihara, outside Tokyo.
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“Certainly, I stabbed [the victims] with a knife”, police quoted him as saying. A Sagamihara city official said later Uematsu had been involuntarily committed to hospital on February 19 for fear he would harm others.
Yasuyuki Deguchi, a criminologist, says Uematsu’s actions were typical of someone who bears a grudge and seeks revenge, because it appeared he planned out the attack, and then he turned himself into police. He tested positive for marijuana use during his time being sectioned, local media reported Tuesday.
Uematsu said that by killing the disabled he would stimulate the world economy and maybe even prevent a World War III.
In June past year Uematsu came to be known to local prosecutors following an altercation with a man at a station in Tokyo during which the man sustained injuries.
In the letter, he said he felt “sorry” for people with disabilities, many of whom were bound to wheelchairs for life.
“I send condolences from my bottom of my heart to the many people who died and those who were seriously injured”, said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The death toll could be greater due to twenty of the injured that are still in critical condition, the national fire department, which also performs medical care, reported.
“Think of the anger that was raging, enabling the wielding of a knife to kill the defenseless”.
FILE – In this June 8, 2008 file photo, police investigators examine the crime scene of Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics district after a man slammed a truck into a crowd of shoppers, jumped out and went on a stabbing spree, killing seven people.
NTV stated that Uetmatsu managed to force his was into the care facility by using a hammer to smash one of the windows.
According to a local official who spoke with Reuters, police found a bag with several knives, at least one of which was stained with blood.
It was among the worst attacks in modern Japanese history and left people wondering why their country was suddenly cursed with the kind of mass violence that has swept the globe this year, from the U.S.to France to Afghanistan.
Uematsu’s purported Twitter account carried numerous cryptic tweets, including one in February where he said he “might be arrested” – around the same time he was sacked from the Sagamihara facility where he used to work.
The care facility is located in a largely residential area, with a school and amusement park nearby.
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The man may have stabbed at least 25 other people in the Kanagawa Prefecture, according to Japanese media.
