Another Idiot with a knife

[thepizzadude 26]

^{Knife-Wielding Man Kills 8 Children at Japanese School}

A deranged man armed with a kitchen knife stormed into an elementary school here this morning and began stabbing students and teachers, a murderous rampage that has stirred outrage and soul-searching in this normally safe country. Eight children were killed and at least 15 people wounded.

School officials subdued the attacker and handed him over to the police.

The attack focused immediate attention on an increase in violence in a country where crime rates are among the world's lowest and where schools are more concerned about test scores and club activities. The most recent mass assault in Japan occurred in 1995, when the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult released sarin gas in the Tokyo subway, killing 12 people.

In recent years, Japan has experienced a growing number of violent attacks, including bus hijackings, child abuse, murders of parents and juvenile assaults, that have caused many Japanese to worry that their country is in a state of social decline. Japan is also undergoing wrenching social change widely attributed to the country's long-term economic downturn and shifting values.

Witnesses of the attack this morning described a scene of pandemonium and panic in this community, 10 miles north of Osaka. Bleeding students staggered through the streets, screaming for help, as screeching ambulances and police cars descended on the school. Television stations broadcast pictures of students fleeing across the playground in horror and distressed parents rushing to claim their children.

In a television interview, a girl who survived said the attacker, who was described as having dyed blond hair, ran into her classroom growling and stabbed three boys.

Local television and radio reports identified the attacker as Mamoru Takuma, described as a troubled 37-year-old drifter. The reports, which cited unnamed municipal health and police officials, said Mr. Takuma, who lives in nearby Mino, had a record of treatment for schizophrenia and had been hospitalized as recently as May.

The police said that during questioning today, Mr. Takuma told them he had taken 10 times his normal dose of tranquilizers before he undertook the attack.

In a briefing tonight, police officials said Mr. Takuma had told them: ''I hate everything. I tried to commit suicide several times but could not die. I wanted to be arrested and executed by the death penalty.'' In some cases, murder is punishable by death in Japan.

In offering condolences, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said, ''We have to ask for the opinions of experts on what we should do about the collapse of a safe society.''

Last year, a 17-year-old boy, angry after a fight with his father, bludgeoned a passer-by at a Tokyo shopping district. Another teenager beat his mother to death with a metal bat, and a third stabbed an elderly neighbor to death because he said he wanted to experience killing someone.

Attacks in schools and subways have also been increasing. In 1999, a young man stabbed a 7-year-old boy in Kyoto to death in front of his classmates in a school playground.

There were growing calls today across Japan for increased security and safety at schools and for better care and control of mental patients.

Yuji Kishimoto, 37, a resident of Ikeda, expressed worry about the safety of his 6-year-old son. ''Unfortunately, it takes a tragedy like this one for Japan to wake up and do something,'' he said. ''Someone who was mentally ill should not have been let out on the streets.''

After news of the incident spread, schools all over Japan began locking gates normally left open, and distributing leaflets advising students to be on the lookout for ''strange characters'' and to walk home in groups.

The attack began around 10:20 a.m. during a break in classes. The police said the suspect entered the schoolyard through a side entrance and began his rampage in the second-grade class. As children fled into the corridor, the man chased them and then entered another second-grade classroom where he stabbed others before he was overpowered.

Doctors at nearby hospitals where the victims were taken said many of the children had died instantly from heart and respiratory failure. Of the eight children who were killed, seven were second-grade girls and one was a first-grade boy. The school, which has about 690 students, accepts only the gifted.

Six students and one teacher remain in critical condition.

The police said the suspect had been arrested in March 1999 and been accused of spiking the tea of four teachers with tranquilizers at the school where he was then working. But he was never prosecuted because he suffered from psychological problems, the police said.

Since graduating from high school, the suspect had held numerous jobs, including as a member of the Japanese Air Self Defense force, a bus driver and a garbage collector. As a bus driver, he once accused a passenger of wearing too strong perfume and was punished with a 10 percent cut in salary, the police said.

[Jenn! 918]

Mmmmm, that pizza looks awesome!

[thepizzadude 26]

Mmmmm, that pizza looks awesome!

HeHe they are delicious...mmmmmmmmm......

[Joseph & Ana 0]

we need background checks and more knife control. Possibly even a ban.

[Danno 1,228]

Thats tragic.

Anyone aware of what social changes might have contributed to the increase of these type things in Japan?

Sounds like this guy was just a nut-case.

[HAL 9000 96]

Mmmmm, that pizza looks awesome!

HeHe they are delicious...mmmmmmmmm......

Get us an address for those of us that drive through Indy.

Regarding the knife... well... its in Japan isn't it??

we need background checks and more knife control. Possibly even a ban.

What does Japan do to check backgrounds?

What do we do to check backgrounds of knife sales?

[Ban Hammer 13,336]

we need background checks and more knife control. Possibly even a ban.