Men In Joker Costumes Attack With Knife On Tokyo Train On Halloween, 17 People Are Injured

Illustration of train passengers in Tokyo, Japan. (Wikimedia Commons/Maya-Anaïs Yataghène)

JAKARTA - A 24-year-old man wearing a Joker costume from the Batman film attacked passengers on a Tokyo, Japan train line on Sunday night, injuring 17 people as many partygoers headed downtown for a Halloween gathering, media reported.

Police arrested the suspected attacker on the spot, media reported. A man believed to be in his 60s was unconscious and in critical condition after being stabbed, while witnesses also said the assailant had spread the liquid around the train and ignited a fire, according to media.

One video posted on Twitter shows people fleeing a train carriage, seconds later, a fire blazing. Another video showed passengers rushing out of train windows and onto the platform where the train made an emergency stop.

"I thought it was a Halloween stunt," a witness told the Yomiuri newspaper, recalling seeing other passengers running frantically towards his train carriage.

"Then, I saw a man walking this way, slowly swinging a long knife. There was blood on the knife."

Another video on Twitter shows a bespectacled man wearing a purple suit and a bright green shirt, like the one worn by the Joker, sitting in an empty train smoking a cigarette, legs crossed and looking calm. He can be seen through a window surrounded by law enforcement in the next clip.

Local media later reported that the suspect told authorities he "wanted to kill people, so he could be sentenced to death".

The attack took place on the Keio express line to Shinjuku, the world's busiest train station, at around 8 p.m. local time, media said.

To note, partial services on the Keio line remained suspended on Sunday evening, when Japanese voters went to the polls in lower house elections.