At least 19 people were killed in a stabbing attack at a care facility for the disabled near Tokyo, Japan. (Photo : YouTube/Arirang News)
At least 19 people were killed in a knife attack at a facility for the disabled in Sagamihara, 25 miles southwest of Tokyo, Japan. The stabbing spree also wounded 26 other people.
According to CNN, the attacker was a former employee at the Tsukui Yamayurien facility. Satoshi Uematsu, who worked at the facility from 2012 until February this year, broke in through a window at around 2 am on July 26.
Tsukui Yamayurien is a 7.5-acre facility located in the small mountain town of Sagamihara in the Kanagawa Prefecture. It is home to 149 residents, under a third of whom are elderly. The facility also has a total of 222 employees, but only nine of them, including one security guard, were on duty when Uematsu got inside.
The news agency noted that it was unclear what sort of work the 26-year-old Uematsu did in the facility and whether he resigned or was fired from his job. He had reportedly trained to be a teacher and his former colleagues attested that he was personable and polite.
A Sagamihara official told Reuters that Uematsu, who lives near the facility, was committed to a hospital after expressing a "willingness to euthanize" the severely disabled. Uematsu had reportedly written letters in February wherein he said that he could "obliterate 470 disabled people." He had indicated that he would kill 260 severely disabled individuals at two areas in the facility during the night, but that he would not hurt any of the staff.
The CNN report added that the suspect had delivered a letter to the Japanese legislature in which he outlined a society in which euthanasia of disabled people was accepted. Uematsu had personally handed the letter to staff at the residence of Tadanori Oshima, the Chairman of the Lower House.
Uematsu was freed in March after doctors found that he had improved.
The attack on Tuesday took place while the victims were sleeping. Of those who were killed, 10 were women and nine were men, with age ranging from 18 to 70. Out of the injured, 13 were severely hurt, 10 suffered moderate injuries, and three sustained minor injuries.
Local police said that an employee of the facility made the call and reported the attack. A bloodstained Uematsu turned himself in at the Sagamihara police station at around 3 a.m. carrying his weapon.
The incident, according to authorities, is Japan's worst mass killing since World War II.
Here is a video of a report regarding the stabbing attack:
