Japan knife attack: At least 19 dead and 45 injured at care center in Sagamihara

Nineteen people were killed in a knife attack at a treatment center for people with mental disabilities in the city of Sagamihara, outside Tokyo, Japan.

Such attacks is very rare in Japan, the incident is the worst mass killings in decades.

The suspect has been identified as Satoshi Uematsu, a 26-year-old former employee at the Tsukui Yamayuri En (Tsukui Lily Garden) facility in Sagamihara in kanagawa prefecture, about 40km southwest of Tokyo. He left his job in February.

Local police said that he sent a handwritten letter to politicians in February in which he threatened to kill hundreds of people with disabilities. He was kept in hospital for nearly two weeks before being released.

Staff at the Tsukui Yamayuri-en facility called police at 2.30am local time to report a man with a knife inside the building.

Nineteen people have been killed and up to 25 people injured and 20 people in a serious condition after a mass stabbing attack. Nine women and 10 men aged between 19 and 70 were among the dead, making this the worst mass killing in the country since the second world war.

The injured have been taken to at least six hospitals in western Tokyo.

After apparently breaking into a care facility at around 2.10am local time on Tuesday to carry out a mass stabbing, the suspect turned himself in to police. He has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and trespassing, an official from Kanagawa prefecture said.

He reportedly said that he wanted people with disabilities t "disappear".

The attack has shocked Japan, one of the safest countries in the world.

Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said it was "very heartbreaking and shocking incident in which many innocent people become victims."

source:

theguardian