Toyama School Forced to Remain Closed after Attack Threat

July 2, 2018

Toyama- An attack threat forced an elementary school in the central Japan city of Toyama to remain closed on Monday after it became a murder scene last week, police and school sources said.

The school was set to resume classes on Monday after closing due to the killing of a school guard last Tuesday. But it decided to put off the resumption in response to the attack threat after consultation with the city's education board.

According to the Toyama prefectural police department, an email threatening to attack the school on Wednesday was sent to the website of a company in Tokyo on Sunday evening.

After receiving a report from the company about the attack threat, the police reinforced their patrolling activities around the school.

During the closure, the school checked the safety of the routes children use for commuting, requested the patrolling by local residents and asked parents to accompany their children to school once the classes are resumed.

In the incident, which happened past 2 p.m. Tuesday (5 a.m. GMT), Keita Shimazu, 21, a former Self-Defense Forces officer, stabbed to death a 46-year-old policeman, Kenichi Inaizumi, at a police box and stole his gun.

The suspect then went to an elementary school some 100 meters away and gunned down Shinichi Nakamura, a 68-year-old security guard, near the school's main gate.

Shimazu is seen to have fired three shots near the school gate. Two bullets were later discovered inside the school building. Jiji Press