2008 Akihabara massacre

Akihabara massacre
The intersection where the incident happened in Akihabara.
Location	Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
Coordinates	35°41′59″N 139°46′17″E
Date	June 8, 2008 Approximately 12:30 p.m. (JST)
Attack type	Mass murder, stabbing
Weapons	Truck, dagger
Deaths	7
Injured	10
Perpetrator	Tomohiro Katō (加藤智大, Katō Tomohiro)

The Akihabara massacre (秋葉原通り魔事件, Akihabara Tōrima Jiken) was a stabbing spree which occurred in the Akihabara electronics, video games and comics shopping quarter of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan on June 8, 2008. At about 12:30 p.m. JST, the assailant attacked a crowd with his vehicle, running over three people, then stabbing at least 17 people using a dagger (initially erroneously reported as a survival knife), killing seven people.

The Tokyo Police have arrested Tomohiro Katō (加藤智大, Katō Tomohiro) on suspicion of attempted murder. Katō, 25, is a resident of Susono, Shizuoka. Dressed in a black T-shirt with a jacket and off-white trousers at the time of the attack, he was being held at the Manseibashi Police Station until being transferred to the Tokyo prosecutor's office.

Details

Details of the incident

The rental truck used to run into the crowd.

Reports say a white two-ton Isuzu Elf rental truck struck a crowd in the crossing of Chūō-dōri and Kanda Myōjin-dōri, two major streets in Akihabara. On that Sunday—a practice since 1973 on Sundays and holidays—Chūō-dōri was closed to vehicular traffic for the convenience of shopping pedestrians while Kanda Myōjin-dōri remained open to traffic. Reports state that multiple witnesses reported the truck came to a stop after traveling about 30 meters (100 ft); a man then left the truck and started screaming and stabbing passersby. He dropped his knife and was subdued by police and bystanders only after a police officer pointed a gun at him.

The victims

At least 17 ambulances rushed to the scene as passersby tried to revive the victims. Five of the victims reportedly went into cardiac arrest at the scene. Two people died from the attack initially, and during the day the death toll increased to seven. Autopsies later determined that three victims died as a result of being struck by the truck while the other four were fatally stabbed.

According to police and hospital officials, six of the seven who were killed were men, including Kazunori Fujino and his friend Takahiro Kamaguchi (both 19), Katsuhiko Nakamura (74), Naoki Miyamoto (31), and Mitsuru Matsui (33). A woman, Mai Muto (21), was also killed. A makeshift memorial was created by passersby later that day.

Perpetrator

Early life and education

Katō was president of a tennis club in middle school and an excellent student at a top high school. He started to act violently at home after enrolling at Aomori Prefectural High School. His class academic ranking fell to 300 (of 360 students) and he failed university entrance examinations, eventually training as an auto mechanic. He was hired as a temporary worker at an auto parts factory in central Shizuoka prefecture, though he was recently told that his job was going to be cut at the end of June.

Motivations

Three days before the attack, on June 5, Katō accused people at his workplace of hiding his overalls, and left work immediately afterwards. It appears that he thereafter believed he had been fired from his job, although this was not actually the case. It has been speculated this may have triggered the attack.

The suspect apparently posted messages on Internet forums revealing his intentions, posting his last message via his mobile phone 20 minutes before the attack. A police official stated the first message read, "I will kill people in Akihabara." Other messages he is alleged to have posted include, "If only I had a girlfriend, I wouldn't have quit work," "I would never have become addicted to my mobile phone. Anybody with hope couldn't possibly understand how I feel," and "I don't have a single friend and I won't in the future. I'll be ignored because I'm ugly. I'm lower than trash because at least the trash gets recycled." Later messages revealed his plan to use a vehicle until it became inoperable, and then to use a knife to continue the attack on foot.

Investigation

Katō was transferred from police custody to a holding cell at the Tokyo prosecutor's office for interrogation and preliminary investigation. He was cooperative during the inquiry but unapologetic, and has at times cried. Police seized from his apartment empty packages of knives, their receipts, and one club. Japanese law allows the suspect's police custody for two days and eventual transfer to prosecutors, for filing charges or release from detention within 20 days.

The knives were reportedly purchased two days before the attack from a military supply shop in Fukui. Kato came to Akihabara a day before the attack to sell his personal computer and some software to raise money to rent the Isuzu Elf.

Reactions and consequences

The attack made global headlines and sent shock waves across Japan, shaking public confidence in what is traditionally considered a society safe from violent crime. The Japanese government is now reviewing laws regulating survival knives.

Related or similar events

The stabbings occurred exactly seven years after the Osaka school massacre, where eight elementary school students were killed. The perpetrator of that crime had been diagnosed as having schizophrenia. Similarly, Katō has been quoted as saying that he was "tired of the world" and that he came to "kill people." There have also been other random knife killings in 2008, though on a smaller scale. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has said that he "is worried that similar cases occur about 10 times a year in Japan." According to the National Police Agency, 67 similar random attacks have taken place between 1998 and 2007. It was reported that Kato's massacre was "the worst case of its kind" since World War II "in terms of the number of deaths."

See also

Media related to Akihabara massacre at Wikimedia Commons Man attacks 17 people in Akihabara, Tokyo at Wikinews

• List of events named massacres