Toyama School Resumes Classes One Week after Deadly Attack

July 3, 2018

Toyama- An elementary school in the central Japan city of Toyama resumed classes on Tuesday, one week after it became a murder scene.

An email threatening an attack on the school forced the class resumption, originally planned for Monday, to be postponed by one day.

Arriving at the city-run school in groups in the morning, students exchanged greetings boisterously with teachers, police officers and local residents who were there to watch over them.

"To help children not to feel uneasy, I'd like to have good discussions at home," said a man who accompanied his fourth-grade grandchild to school.

According to the man, his grandchild was looking forward to the resumption of classes while the school was closed.

Teachers hope to psychologically support the students by holding school assemblies, handing out questionnaires and doing individual interviews with them, with help from school counsellors.

In the incident, which happened on June 26, Keita Shimazu, a former Self-Defense Forces officer, stabbed to death a policeman at a police box and stole his gun.

The suspect then went to the elementary school some 100 meters away and gunned down a security guard near the school's main gate.

Shimazu is believed to have fired three more shots toward the school. Two bullets were later discovered inside the school building.

On Sunday, the Toyama prefectural police department received the email threatening to attack the school on Wednesday. Newspaper publisher Asahi Shimbun Co. got the same message on the same day.

The school canceled its plan to resume classes on Monday due to the attack threat, but decided on Tuesday's resumption after judging that the students' safety is ensured thanks to the patrolling by the police. Jiji Press