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Police in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, have arrested a 15-year-old boy on suspicion of attempted murder after he stabbed an employee of a gun shop.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Otake gun shop, Fuji TV reported. Police said the boy entered the store, spoke to the 79-year-old employee, then stabbed him several times in the face, left side and back.
The man was able to call police. He was taken to hospital where doctors said Sunday his condition was stable.
The victim’s wife told police that at around 6 p.m., he received a call from someone purporting to be a customer, asking if he could come around and see some firearms.
Police detained the boy in the vicinity of the shop. He had a bloodied knife with him. After questioning the boy, police charged him with attempted murder at around 11 p.m.
Nothing was stolen from the shop. Police said the victim and the boy did not know each other.
On Sunday, police quoted the boy as saying he wanted to kill someone and his intention was to steal a gun.
© Japan Today
27 Comments
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Desert Tortoise
Yakuza prospect? And prison will be like gladiator school, prepping for the big time.
kaimycahl
@Fighto!T
*Care to share any statistics to back up your wild claim that crime is getting worse in Japan? (Daily crime stories on JT are not "crime statistics", by the way). Didnt think so. *Neither is Denial a static, but mental illness is real and the increase of these reported crimes are rising! Thats a fact!
obladi
incidental comment: hunting is becoming less popular and in some places inoshishi, bear and deer are a real problem. So, it might be easier to get a license now than in the past. Not that that has anything to do with this story.
kiwi07
Yes, to join a target shooting club (and, yeah, I know what you mean). But, the air rifles used in Japan aren't your daisy BB or break barrel type pellet gun. They are mostly PCP air rifles, which are a lot more powerful. They are often used for hunting as well (a separate exam is required for that).
shogun36
Shop owner needs to learn to keep loaded straps under the counter for his employees.
Hiroshi13
@kiwi07..."air rifle license"? Wtf lol!
kiwi07
As other posters commented, there are gun shops, but there is a strict limit as to the number allowed in any area. I have an air rifle license, and the only place I can buy one was of course from a gun shop. Foreigners with a centrefire rife license are very rare b(I only know of one). But there are a number of foreigners that have their shotgun license for clay pigeon shooting, and to get that license, you first need to purchase 100 shotgun shells to use for your practical shooting exam.
Although, one of Japan's worst shooting incidents, the Zama and Shibuya shooting, involved the taking of hostages in a gun shop. It was due to that incident that the time period required for centrefire hunting rifles increased to first having owned a shogun for 10 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zama_and_Shibuya_shootings
Hiroshi13
"Gun Shop" most likely means replica, airsoft gun shop.
Robert Cikki
This.
Anyone with need of a mental health treatment is considered here as mentaly disabled (the better scenario), or simply 頭病気. Go see a child psychologist?Then the kid's practically a weirdo. And then such thing happens. We only treat things here that are visible.
sir_bentley28
Let's look at your comment here and try to make sense out of it.
a) He's 15
b) He probably doesn't have the money for a ticket to go to America
c) Doubt his English is good enough to ask around in America for a gunshop
d) Since he's a kid, would they even let him in a gunshop without a parent or guardian?
So your comment has no reach to gunshops or trigger happy people!
Yubaru
Huh? Oh right, you are making your generalized statement, based upon no facts or evidence what-so-ever, as how things are in Japan.
So just because you "said it" makes it a fact, even when it isnt!
Things here are no better, or no worse than usual.
nandakandamanda
I know of two gun shops near here. Small, tucked away and not obvious, and as Sven says above, selling all kinds of related goods. Useful for rods and cleaning equipment, gun blue, specialist oils etc. This cunning kid certainly planned his visit, though, phoning to ask them to stay open past closing time, when he knew no one else would be around.
Thomas Tank
He's lucky he didn't get the urge to bring a knife to a gun shop in the US!
Sven Asai
Yes, there are gun shops, I’ve seen one. Everything is secured and locked. But I doubt that they can sell much, because only some hunters might be eligible to buy a gun after many years of lessons, tests and exams. Of course they sell the usual other stuff like survival and camping goods, army knives , outdoor clothes and accessories and all such. About a decade ago or so, there was a news, that even a foreigner managed to buy a gun, after being fluent in Japanese for taking the hunter’s license exam, as he was some kind addicted to life in nature, forests, hunting and so on. A very rare case, that’s for sure.
sir_bentley28
I've heard this excuse far too many times. If your thoughts lead you to that door, you should talk to someone! Get help! There are places he could've called to get help! I wish I could've spoken to this kid before it got to this situation. I can GA RON TEE (guarantee) things would've been different.
obladi
I have never seen a gun shop in Japan. Are they very high security?
602miko
Oh boy! What's on your mind?
John
Care to share any statistics to back up your wild claim that crime is getting worse in Japan? (Daily crime stories on JT are not "crime statistics", by the way).
Sure. Crime is getting worse everywhere. Every time a crime happens, crime goes up. If someone kills someone yesterday, and then someone kills someone else today, you can’t say, “Crime isn’t getting worse cause look, we had one murder yesterday and one today so the rate didn’t go up.”
The rate may have not gone up, but crime did and now 2 people are dead.
And neither can you say that crime is getting better. “ One person was murdered yesterday and no one was murdered today so look crime is less.” The original crime still happened at a point in time which made crime to go up.
One crime is too many.
Meiyouwenti
Though lacking in real serious mental health treatment, Japan has many fewer cases of murder than other developed countries .
tamanegi
I never knew there were gun shops in Japan.
Fighto!
Care to share any statistics to back up your wild claim that crime is getting worse in Japan? (Daily crime stories on JT are not "crime statistics", by the way).
Didnt think so.
foreignbrotherhoodarmy
keep him under strict control and supervision for the rest of his life, heavily medicated too. He’ll just do it again
Albert
Common sentence used in Japan " I wanted to kill someone"
Japan really need to change life and social aspects because people are not robots.
oldman_13
Very old or very young, it's getting worse with the crime situation.
OlympicSupport
Mental health treatment is a REAL serious thing that is lacking in Japan...