The suspected perpetrator of a shooting spree that killed two people in a southern Japan sports club was found dead at a nearby church early yesterday, apparently after having committed suicide, police said.
Police found the man slumped on the ground with a gunshot wound, Nagasaki prefectural police spokesman Koji Minami said.
Police identified the man as Masayoshi Magome, 37, the suspect in Friday night's shootings in a sports center in the southern city of Sasebo that left two people dead and six wounded. He was unemployed, police said.
A 26-year-old swimming instructor was killed at the Renaissance sports club and seven others were wounded on Friday. One of them, a 36-year-old visitor to the club, died shortly afterward. The six remaining wounded -- two girls aged nine and 10, and three men and a woman -- were hospitalized but police said none of their injuries were life threatening.
Witnesses have told investigators that the gunman pushed his way into the sports club and immediately began firing from a shotgun as he headed to a swimming pool on the second floor to fire more bullets before fleeing.
Shootings are still relatively rare in Japan, and because of the country's strict controls of handguns, most shootings here are largely limited to gang violence.
Police have not immediately found a gang connection in Friday's shooting, and the suspect was licensed to own the shotgun, Minami said.
The latest shooting came only weeks after parliament approved new legislation that stiffens the penalties for gun crimes after a string of recent high profile fatal shootings. The latest case shocked the nation and topped newspaper headlines.
"The case highlighted a reality that we now face a gun scare in everyday life," the Yomiuri Shimbun said.
The attack also followed a recent turf war among underground groups in Nagasaki and nearby southern Japanese cities. In April, the then-Nagasaki mayor was shot dead by a senior member of Japan's top crime syndicate.
Last month, an alleged gang leader was shot to death and his driver fatally stabbed in nearby Fukuoka, weeks after another fatal shooting of a hospitalized patient who was mistaken for gang member.
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