In Japan, suspect in mass-stabbing reportedly wanted disabled people ‘euthanized’

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SAGAMIHARA, Japan – A man who reportedly said that disabled people should be “euthanized” went on a rampage in a care home Tuesday morning, killing 19 and gravely injuring 20 others in the worst mass-killing in Japan’s post-war history.

Such mass attacks are extremely rare in Japan and the fact that this one took place at a residential center where patients, many of whom were aged or bedridden, were completely defenseless has shocked this small community nestled in the mountains, as well as the broader country.

“This kind of incident is never heard of in Japan,” said Teruaki Sugimoto, a 66-year-old man who lives near the facility in Sagamihara, about 30 miles west of Tokyo. The facility’s name means “mountain lily garden” after the local flower that is in bloom at this time of year. Some 149 people with a wide range of physical and learning disabilities lived there.

“We had lots of dealings with the residents during sports events and festivals, and many local people have worked there. I’m shocked that the suspect doesn’t understand the value of human life and that he could do something so heinous,” Sugimoto said on his front doorstep.

The nightmare began shortly after 2 a.m. local time Tuesday, when the suspect, a 26-year-old named Satoshi Uematsu, used a hammer to break a window at the care home, according to multiple reports. Uematsu, who lived in a two-story house not far from the center, had worked there as an administrator until February this year.

He reportedly tied up the eight staff members who were on duty at that time and then went on a rampage, stabbing 45 patients as they lay in their beds. The dead include 10 men and nine women ranging in age between 19 and 70. Among the 26 injured, 20 are said to have serious injuries, including deep stab wounds to the neck, and were being treated at local hospitals.

After the attack, Uematsu drove himself to the local police station, where he turned himself in. “I did it,” he told police. “It’s better that disabled people disappear,” he continued. He had three knives with him, at least one covered in blood, and tie cables in his car. He was immediately arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and unlawful entry to a building.

A message posted on a Twitter account after the attack – apparently belonging to the suspect – showed a photo of a smiling man with dyed blond hair, who was wearing a suit. “Wishing for world peace. beautiful Japan!!!!!!,” the tweet read. Local reports said the man who carried out the attack had dyed blond hair.

The attack has left this rural area in shock, but was apparently not entirely without warning.

In February, Uematsu took a letter to the speaker of the House of Representatives in which he threatened to carry out the attack.

“I will carry out a massacre without harming the staff,” Uematsu wrote in the letter, according to Kyodo News, which published a photo of the letter. “I will kill 470 disabled people. My goal is to euthanize, with their guardians’ consent, seriously disabled people if they can’t live at home or be active in society,” he wrote, referring to the center by name. “I will carry it out at night time, when there are fewer staff on duty,” he wrote.

NHK, the public broadcaster, added that Uematsu had also told his colleagues in February that seriously disabled people had no use for life and should be euthanized, leading them to call the police.

Five days after he delivered the letter, Uematsu finished working at the care facility. He was investigated by police for making the threats and sent to a hospital for an emergency evaluation for delusional behavior, local media reported, citing police officials.

He was apparently allowed to go home to his house at the bottom of a dead-end road here, overlooking lush green fields.

“It’s unthinkable that something like this could happen not just in Japan but, here in our community,” said Mitsuo Kishi, a 76-year-old who lives a few hundred yards from Uematsu’s house. “I’m speechless. I don’t know what to say. It’s the worst massacre in post-war Japan. I still can’t understand why it happened here,” he said, recounting how he used to talk to the suspect often when he was a child. In more recent years, they didn’t talk as much but Uematsu, who Kishi said had graduated from teacher training college, always slowed down to say hello as he drove past.

In Tokyo, prime minister Shinzo Abe’s government vowed to fully investigate the case, and the prime minister’s top aide said there were no links to Islamic terrorism.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Anna Fifield

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