75-year-old man who stabbed couple at supermarket also charged with earlier assault at video rental store

A 75-year-old man who was arrested on suspicion of robbery and attempted murder after he stabbed two people, including a grocery store deputy manager, with a kitchen knife at Beisia Supermarket in Iwagamimachi, Maebashi City, in July, has also been charged with stabbing the manager of a video and DVD rental store in June.

According to police, Toshiaki Izumiya entered the supermarket on July 10 and stabbed the store’s 33-year-old deputy manager and a 44-year-old female part-time employee, Sankei Shimbun reported. He was arrested in the store’s parking lot. During questioning by police, he said he hated the store. He also admitted to “stabbing a male acquaintance in June,” leading police to identify him as the culprit in the video store attack.

In that case, at around 8 p.m. on June 11, Hiroshi Tanabe, 63, was in his video/DVD rental store in Maebashi City when Izumiya came in and threatened him with a knife. He ordered Tanabe to hand over money and then stabbed him in the abdomen and face. Izumiya managed to make off with 1,400 yen in cash and a mobile phone. Tanabe sustained serious injuries requiring eight weeks of recovery time.

Police said Thursday that Izumiya is partially denying the allegations and quoted him as saying, “I stabbed Tanabe and meant kill him but I didn’t take any money. I stabbed him because he had disposed of one of my electronic household appliances, which he had kept in his possession, without my permission.”

Police said Izumiya had been visiting the video rental store as a customer for years prior to the stabbing incident and was familiar with his victim. Tanabe has yet to file a criminal complaint against him, police said.

© Japan Today