Victims mourned three years after Sagamihara Massacre

July 26, 2019

Sagamihara, Kanagawa Pref.--People laid flowers and offered prayers on Friday at the former site of Tsukui Yamayuri-en, an eastern Japan care home for people with intellectual disabilities, where 19 residents were killed by a former male worker of the facility exactly three years ago.

A stand for floral tributes was set up at the main entrance of the then administrative building of the care home. The residential buildings at the facility in the city of Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, were demolished after the massacre on July 26, 2016.

Tsukui Yamayuri-en has been provisionally relocated to Yokohama, the capital of Kanagawa, to accommodate residents who survived the attack.

Among Friday's visitors were Kaoru Irikura, head of Tsukui Yamayuri-en, Kazuma Otsuki, leader of a group of facility users' families, and Kanagawa Governor Yuji Kuroiwa.

"I was shocked by the attack, which was carried out by a person who had been on helpers' side," said Takuya Wada, 26, from Tokyo's Nakano Ward.

Wada, a wheelchair user with congenital paralysis, has been visiting the former Tsukui Yamayuri-en site almost every month since the deadly incident. "I hope that people will deepen their understanding of the disabled," he said.

Eri Haneishi, a 61-year-old college teacher in Sagamihara, said she was worried to see debates about disabled people's right to live rise after the knifing rampage.

"At the time, I had the fear that (the existence of) my daughter and other people with disabilities would be denied," Haneishi said. Her 33-year-old daughter, Erika, used the facility for short-term stays until shortly before the incident.

"But now, I think that we should squarely discuss the issue," she said. "I think it's important for both people with and without disabilities to live normally and interact in their communities."

The suspect in the attack, Satoshi Uematsu, 29, has been indicted on suspicions including murder, with his trial seen starting in January 2020. The attack also left 24 people injured.Jiji Press