JAKARTA - A 24-year-old man wearing a Joker costume stabbed 17 people on a subway train in Tokyo, Japan. This attack adds to the list of major offensive tragedies involving sharp weapons in the Land of Sakura.
Local media reported 17 people were injured in the attack Sunday evening, October 31, around 8:30 p.m. local time. The people in the carriage had no idea that one of the men - in a bright purple and green suit - was wearing a costume not for a Halloween party.
"I thought it was a Halloween stunt," a witness told the Yomiuri newspaper.
Not just attack with a knife. The man also committed arson. According to witnesses, the fire emerged from a clear liquid that he burned after spraying it around the carriage.
Viral video footage on social media, showing panic in the carriage. The passengers ran away from the costumed man and the fire he created. Some climbed out of windows when the train was at an emergency stop.
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— ️ (@Master_Bird_) October 31, 2021
"Then I saw a man walking this way. Slowly he swung a long knife," still the same witness to Yomiuri.
Three of the victims suffered serious injuries. An elderly man is reportedly critical after being stabbed in the attack.
The suspect was arrested at the scene after briefly locking himself in a carriage while smoking a cigarette. The post-attack scene was seen in another viral video.
Joker Inspiredpic.twitter. com/UxTWXY8ZxW
— ️ (@Master_Bird_) October 31, 2021
His name is Kyotta Hattori. He confirmed his admiration for the Joker character, the number one villain in the Batman universe and perhaps one of the most popular villains in the history of American comics.
Quoting Japan Today, Hattori admitted that he had even planned the attack several months ago, in June to be exact. Hattori also said he "wanted to kill people so he could be sentenced to death."
During a crime scene investigation, police found a knife, several plastic bottles, possibly containing lighter fluid, as well as an aerosol can inside the train carriage. According to the police, about two hours before the incident, Hattori was celebrating a Halloween party in the Shibuya District, Tokyo.
Hattori chose the limited express train to the city center which rarely stopped because it was usually packed with passengers. The ideal situation as he envisioned in his plan.
Told the police, Hattori admitted regret. Not regretting the attack but actually regretting failing to kill anyone in the attack.
List of tragedies with sharp weapons in Japan
In Japan, violent crime is rare. But in the last five years a number of tragedies involving sharp weapons have been recorded.
Stabbing on commuter train
Last August, during the Olympics, ten people were injured in an attack by a man with a knife on a Tokyo commuter train. The suspect, a 36-year-old man, told police he got angry when he saw some of the women looking happy. His killing intent arose from that feeling.
The man carried out the attack when the train was near Sijogakuen Station at around 8:40 p.m. local time. The driver stopped the train in an emergency when he heard screams in the carriage.
The suspect fled by jumping onto the rail line. The train crew evacuated the passengers by following the train line to the nearest station.
NHK News reported that the suspect stopped the escape due to exhaustion. He walked into a convenience store and told the store employee that he was "the suspect in the much-reported incident that day."
Shinto shrine attack
Another, more deadly attack occurred in 2017 on a Shinto shrine in Tokyo, Japan. The attack was triggered by a feud over the position of religious leader. The attack occurred when Nagako Tomioka, a 58-year-old monk, got out of the car.
Nagako was then confronted by her younger brother, Shigenaka Tomioka (56) and his wife, aged 30. Shigenaka stabbed Nagako to death with stab wounds to the chest and back of the neck. Meanwhile, Shigenaka's wife stabbed Nagako's driver, who was injured.
The suspects fled to a location near a holy shrine. It was there that Shigenaka killed his wife and then committed suicide.
At the scene the police found a samurai sword that was covered in blood. Police also found another knife at the scene.
"We believe the male suspect stabbed the woman before she stabbed herself," a police spokesman said.
Mass murder of 19 disabled people
In 2019, a 30-year-old man named Satoshi Uematsi was sentenced to death. The sentence refers to a mass stabbing attack he carried out in 2016. The attack killed 19 people with disabilities in a nursing home.
On March 16 of that year the court sentenced Satoshi to death by hanging. Throughout the trial Satoshi did not deny the murder.
Satoshi even said people who can't communicate well have no right to live. One of the things he thought was behind the murder.
The defense team had raised Satoshi's mental condition as the reason for saving him from the death penalty. The defense used evidence of marijuana levels found in Satoshi's body as a pretext.
But the attempt failed. Prosecutors insist that Satoshi's mental condition was conscious when he committed the "inhumane" act. Thus, there is no reason to give Satoshi leniency, Kyodo media reports.
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