Man Shot Dead by Police after Knife Attacks in Japan

May 29, 2018

Kumamoto- A man was shot dead by a police officer after committing knife attacks in Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Monday.

The shooting occurred after the man, 36, slashed another man, 65, with a knife around 4:30 p.m. (7:30 a.m. GMT) in a parking lot in Higashi Ward in Kumamoto, the capital city of the prefecture, and headed toward the police officer.

The officer, 40, was cut in the face when he tried to catch the knife-wielding man, but the injury is not life-threatening.

The man has a history of schizophrenia, according to the prefectural police's Kumamoto Higashi station.

According to the police station, a man made an emergency call around 4:30 p.m., saying he had been slashed with a knife in the parking lot in the city's Shinnabe district.

Two police officers from the police station arrived at the scene following another emergency call made from a fire substation some 400 meters away in the city's Shimonabe district around 4:40 p.m., saying that there was a man holding a knife in front of the gate of the substation.

The police officer opened fire after he warned the man, who headed for him while holding a knife with a blade some 15 centimeters long.

The officer fired five shots after the knife-wielding man jumped on top of the officer and slashed him in the face three times. Of the five shots, three hit the man's body and one struck his right arm. The man was pronounced dead at a hospital about an hour later.

The man who made the emergency call at the scene is believed to have had a dispute with the knife-wielding man.

The gun use was unavoidable because both the victim and the police officer were in immediate danger, but the police are investigating the situation further, Shingo Eto, deputy chief of the police station, said. Jiji Press