28 May,2019 03:54 PM IST | | mid-day online desk
A woman pays her respects next to flower tributes at the crime scene where a man stabbed 19 people in Kawasaki. Pic/AFP
A 12-year-old school girl and an adult man were killed while sixteen others, including over a dozen school children, sustained injuries after a man went on a stabbing rampage at a crowded bus stop in the Japanese city of Kawasaki on Tuesday morning.
Police said that the man suspected of carrying out the attack died from a self-inflicted wound. He is believed to be a resident of Kawasaki city, according to state broadcaster NHK.
They said a schoolgirl died and a 39-year old man succumbed to injuries in hospital. Sources close to the investigation said that this man was the father of one of the children at the scene. He was stabbed in the back by the attacker.
A witnessed reported that the suspect, who was holding a knife in each hand, began stabbing the school children as they waited to board a bus. Two knives have been reportedly found from the scene of the incident.
ALSO READ
Japan holds first memorial for 'all workers' at Sado gold mines but blurs WWII atrocity. Why?
Japan holds Sado mines memorial despite South Korean boycott amid lingering historical tensions
India's Gulveer betters own 10,000m national record in Japan
Japan will hold Sado mines memorial despite South Korean boycott amid lingering historical tensions
South Korea will not attend Sado mines memorial event in Japan amid lingering historical tensions
Another witness told NHK, "I heard the sound of lots of ambulances and I saw a man lying near a bus stop bleeding."
He said, "There is another bus stop near the primary school and I also saw schoolchildren lying on the ground. It is a quiet neighbourhood. It is scary to see this kind of thing happen."
A man carrying a knife in each hand and screaming "I will kill you!" attacked a group of schoolgirls and adults near a bus stop just outside Tokyo on Tuesday, killing two and injuring 16 before killing himself, officials said.
Most of the victims were schoolgirls who were lined up at a bus stop near Noborito Park in the city of Kawasaki when a man in his 50s began slashing them with knives.
Footage broadcast on local television channels showed multiple police cars, ambulances and fire engines at the scene of the incident. Emergency medical tents were put up to treat the wounded, reports Al Jazeera.
Japan is considered one of the world's safest developed countries. According to a report by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, the country has one of the world's lowest homicide rates.
Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates
Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from Agencies
