Nineteen people are dead and up to 45 injured following a knife attack in Sagamihara, outside Tokyo.
A knife-wielding man attacked a facility for the disabled and then turned himself in, police said.
At least 19 people are believed to have been killed in the attack and dozens more injured.
Knife attack kills 19 at Japan disability center, official says https://t.co/uqzu34O76z pic.twitter.com/4TFvW51vVm
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 26, 2016
Various Japanese media outlets are reporting that the attacker is named Satoshi Uematsu, and is 26-years-old and a former member of staff at the facility.
“I did it,” he was quoted as saying, adding: “It is better that disabled people disappear.”
Japan stabbing attack: no immediate motive given, although the suspect told the police that he wanted the disabled people “to disappear”
— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) July 25, 2016
Locals claim to have seen a man in black clothes holding a weapon in the grounds of the Tsukui Yamayuri Garden.
The man is believed to have escaped from the facility after the attack before turning himself over to police.
MORE: Knife-wielding man kills 19, injures 40-plus at facility for disabled in Japan https://t.co/2aQHhU8FJD pic.twitter.com/edZxdfXYL8
— BNO News (@BNONews) July 25, 2016
Nine women and 10 men were killed, local fire department has said, and they ranged in age from 18 to 70. At least 25 other residents were wounded during the attack, 20 of them seriously. Some reports have the number of wounded as high as 45 – 50 people.
It’s believed to be the worst mass murder in post-World War II Japan.
https://twitter.com/justinjm1/status/757700392025227265
In 1995, a cult member unleashed a sarin gas attack on the Japanese subway system, killing 12 and injuring 50 people.
