A man, identified as Tomohiro Kato (25), launched into a knife wielding rampage in Akiba, in which he indiscriminately attacked 18 people, with 7 of his victims subsequently dying. He apparently also ran people down in a truck, and attacked police officers, stabbing at least one. He gave the reason “I became sick of the world. I came to Akihabara to kill” for his actions.
He was soon overpowered and arrested, submitting rather than be shot by police. All of this occurred on one of the busy Sunday afternoons where Akiba is at its most crowded, probably helping to explain his large number of victims. Via Asahi. English report at Yomiuri.
It will be interesting to see what his motivation is, for were it death by cop, might we not expect him to have provoked police into shooting him? The choice of Akihabara as the scene for his going amok also raises seems curious…
Wonder how long it will be before the media tries blaming this on otaku, even though otaku are the victims here.
I am keeping my eyes open for that; so far all they revealed is that he was a dispatch worker who lived alone and his neighbours didn’t know him… If they search his apartment and find some otaku trappings I’m sure we’ll hear about it very soon.