The killing spree is one of Japan’s deadliest mass killings since World War II.
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At about 2:30 Tuesday morning, a man broke into a care facility for the mentally disabled in the city of Sagamihara, 50 kilometers southwest of Tokyo.
The letter, passed to Tokyo police, included Uematsu’s name, address and telephone number, and reports of his threats were relayed to local police where Uematsu lived, Kyodo said. Police are yet to establish the background motive for the attack however the suspect was reportedly “involuntarily admitted” to hospital earlier on in the year for under two weeks after claiming that he would kill disabled people.
Local government officials said that Uematsu began working at the facility as a part-time employee in December 2012, but became a regular worker four months later.
NHK said the suspect, 26, is a former employee at the facility, Tsukui Yamayuri-en.
Uematsu turned himself into police around 3 am with a bag of bloody knives.
Yasuyuki Deguchi, a criminologist, said Uematsu’s alleged 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 in to police. “He went in the dark of the night, opened one door at a time, and stabbed sleeping people one by one”, Kuroiwa said.
A woman who said she used to work at the facility said many patients were profoundly disabled.
Private broadcaster NTV reported that Uematsu told police he had been fired from his job, though officials said only that he left the position. He left the knife in his auto when he entered the station. Japanese media reports said he is 26 years old. Japan, where the murder rate is among the lowest in the world, is not often the site of such mass killings. One witness, a resident at the facility, told the media that the attacker had blond hair and was wearing black clothes.
Nineteen residents have been killed in a knife attack at a care centre for people with mental disabilities in the Japanese city of Sagamihara.
Tuesdays attack marks the worst mass killing Japan has seen in decades, with the government here describing the the attack as highly distressing.
He was a “normal, nice boy” who always smiled and offered a greeting, said next-door neighbour Akihiro Hasegawa.
According to the Asahi Shimbun daily, he also said: “The disabled should all disappear”. On Tuesday, he killed or injured about a third of the 150 patients in less than an hour, mostly by slashing throats.
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On June 8, 2008, a man drove a truck into a crowd at a shopping area in Tokyo.
