A knife attack on Saturday night on a Japanese bullet express train near Tokyo left one passenger dead and two injured, police said yesterday, as they arrested a suspect who was on top of a man lying unconscious.
Police said they apprehended Ichiro Kojima, 22, after the train made an unscheduled stop late on Saturday at Odawara station west of Tokyo following an emergency call that there was a knife-wielding man.
The Nozomi train, with about 880 passengers aboard, was heading to Osaka from Tokyo.
Kojima was on top of a man lying unconscious on the floor of the isle with a knife stuck in his thigh when officers arrived, police said.
The 38-year-old victim was also stabbed in the neck and was later pronounced dead.
Odawara police official Satoshi Oiye said the suspect admitted that he had attacked the passengers.
Police are continuing to investigate his motives, Oiye said.
Japanese media reported that Kojima, who is unemployed, said he made the assaults because he was irritated and felt like attacking anyone.
Oiye said investigators also found a machete believed to be belonging to the suspect at the stabbing scene, though it was not known how it was used.
Police said two female passengers in their 20s were injured in the neck and other parts of their bodies, though their conditions were not life-threatening.
Television footage showed some passengers desperately trying to escape to other cars.
“All of a sudden, a lot of passengers were dashing from behind. People panicked”, a 44-year-old male passenger told the Mainichi Shimbun. “Everyone appeared to be feeling the strain and some of them cried.”
A female passenger told public broadcaster NHK: “Everyone fled and fell like one domino falling after another. I was scared to death.”
Additional reporting by AFP
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