Suspected gunman detained after taking female staff hostage in Japan post office
SAITAMA – A suspected gunman, who took two female staff hostage inside a post office in Japan, was detained after a lengthy stand-off, local police said on Tuesday.
Local media in Saitama Prefecture, outside Tokyo, also reported that two people were injured in a possible shooting at a nearby hospital.
Images on television showed the suspect, reported to be possibly in his 80s, inside the Warabi Post Office building in a baseball cap and a white shirt under a dark coat, with what looked like a gun attached to a cord around his neck.
“At approximately 2.15pm today, a person has taken hostages and holed up at a post office in Chuo 5-chome area of Warabi City... The perpetrator is possessing what appears to be a gun,” Warabi City authorities said on their website.
The police had urged 300 residents in the nearby area to evacuate and avoid the three-storey post office building and its vicinity.
Local media NTV reported that at least one woman in her 20s and another woman in her 30s were inside the post office, citing police sources. A woman in her 20s later walked out of the building into police custody, national broadcaster NHK said.
The police communicated with the suspect by telephone, NTV reported.
Special police units trained in negotiations and crisis management were sent to the post office at around 4pm local time.
Several police cars with flashing lights were situated around the building as night fell, television footage showed. The surrounding streets were deserted.
Before the post office incident, a man, believed to be the same suspect, was said to have fired a handgun into the Toda Central General Hospital building from the street, before fleeing the scene on a motorcycle, according to the police.
At least two people, a doctor in his 40s and a male patient in his 60s, were injured, according to Japan’s Jiji News. It was unclear if they were shot, but their injuries are not life-threatening.
The man was said by witnesses to be around 1.6m tall and wearing black, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported.
Multiple reports from local residents and hospital staff hearing sounds of gunshots were made in the afternoon.
“After 1pm, I heard a woman shouting ‘Someone, please come’ and a nurse told me ‘Stay away from the windows and keep your head low’,” a man in his 60s, who was inside the hospital, told broadcaster NHK.
“Around 2pm, I looked inside the doctor’s office, and saw a pool of blood next to an examination table. I didn’t hear a gunshot. But a nurse said she heard two gunshots.”
The local education board for Toda City in Saitama Prefecture, approximately 40km from central Tokyo, has instructed students of 12 elementary schools and six junior high schools to stay inside their school campuses.
According to the hospital, the shooting appears to have occurred near one of its buildings housing the paediatrics, plastic surgery, and dermatology departments.
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— 災害火災画像速報ニュース2 (@Gt8VUlzRG7buafO) October 31, 2023
Violent crime is rare in Japan, in part because of strict regulations on gun ownership. Japan also has one of the lowest murder rates in the world.
But recent years have seen violent crimes, including gun attacks, make headlines in the country, most notably the fatal shooting of former prime minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022.
Mr Abe’s accused assassin, Tetsuya Yamagami, reportedly targeted the politician over his links to the Unification Church.
In April, a man was arrested for allegedly hurling an explosive towards Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as he campaigned in the city of Wakayama. Mr Kishida was unharmed.
The following month, a man holed up in a building after allegedly killing four people, including two police officers and an elderly woman, in a gun and knife attack.
Masanori Aoki, 31, was taken into custody at his house outside a farm near the city of Nakano in the Nagano region, the police said at the time. Two women and two police officers were killed in the attack. - AFP
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