Uematsu, who was carrying a bag full of bloodied knives and blades of different sizes when he arrived at the police station after the frenzied attack, was living half a kilometer from the care facility, and is now undergoing mental health checks, sources close to the matter said Tuesday, as part of the polices investigation.
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Police have arrested a local man, named by local media as 26-year-old Satoshi Uematsu, in connection with the attack on the Tsukui Yamayuri-en care centre, located about 50km from Tokyo.
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.
Satoshi Uematsu, 26, walked into a police station 30 minutes after the attack and said “I did it”, Japanese media reported.
Uematsu had also delivered a letter to the office of Japanese lawmaker Tadamori Oshima on February 15 which allegedly stated, “I envision a world where a person with multiple disabilities can be euthanized, with an agreement from the guardians, when it is hard for the person to carry out household and social activities”.
With gun restrictions high and stabbings more common in Japan, this knife attack that occurred at a facility for disabled people at 1 p.m. Eastern time Monday [July 25] still comes as a shock. On Feb. 19, Uematsu was committed to a psychiatric facility. The facility’s name means “mountain lily garden” after the local flower that is in bloom at this time of year.
Nineteen pople were feared dead and 45 injured after an attack by a knife-wielding man at a facility for the disabled in Japan early today, national broadcaster NHK reported.
The wounded were taken to at least six hospitals in the western Tokyo area.
Taxi driver Susumu Fujimura said of the attacker: “He said “we should get rid of disabled people” but he’s the worthless one”.
The suspect handed a letter to staff at the official residence of Tadanori Oshima, the Chairman of the Lower House in Japan’s parliament in February, the House’s secretarial office has confirmed, but CNN has not been able to independently verify the contents of this letter.
Ambulance crew and police officers are seen outside 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.
Akihiro Hasegawa, who lived next door to Uematsu, said he heard Uematsu had gotten in trouble with the facility, initially over sporting a tattoo, often frowned upon in mainstream Japanese society because of its association with criminal groups. He was freed on March 2 after a doctor deemed he had improved, the official said.
A woman who said she used to work at the facility said many patients were profoundly disabled. Eight children were killed in June 2001 at an Ikeda elementary school in Osaka by a former janitor who entered the school and started to stab children at random.
The Sagamihara fire department has said 19 people were killed in the attack Tuesday morning.
Kanagawa Gov. Yuji Kuroiwa apologized for having failed to act on the warning signs. Just about five days ago Uematsu said hello to me.
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The nation’s most notorious attack came in 1995, when members of the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas in the Tokyo subway system.
