A man visiting a Starbucks store at Aeon Town Kawanoe in Shikokucho City, Ehime Prefecture, was fatally shot on Sunday, police said, adding that the suspect is still at large.
The incident occurred at around 4 p.m., Kyodo News reported. Police said the victim, identified as Yuichiro Ishikawa, whose occupation is unknown, was seated on the terrace when a man shot him three times in the chest and fled.
Ishikawa was taken to hospital where he died shortly after arrival. Police believe the shooting was gang-related.
Although several customers were present, no other injuries were reported. Witnesses described the shooter as a middle-aged man.
The crime scene is about three kilometers east of JR Iyo-Mishima Station.
© Japan Today
23 Comments
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Redemption
Who would’ve thought this could happen in Ehime. At least no one else was injured.
jeffy
Imagine a criminal flagrantly ignoring Japan's tough firearms law to commit a crime. What is the world coming to!
falseflagsteve
Sounds like Yakuza to me.
Terrible thing to do and worse in public where no doubt bystanders would be terribly traumatised
Elvis is here
Terrible thing to do full stop, old top.!.
DanteKH
Most likely Yakuza related, and the shooter most likely an low level Yakuza trooper, on boss orders. Sadly, even if they catch him, we will never learn the true motives or who was real killer who ordered the shooting.
Fighto!
Still incredibly rare. This gangster activity and murder makes national headlines in Japan - but would barely rate a mention in local news in the US, where guns are readily available.
Hopefully the police catch this gangster ASAP.
garypen
There's a good chance he'll turn himself in and claim it was a personal grudge, so as to close the case and keep his boss and gumi free of blame.
borscht
He probably shot him in the chest three times and fled.
Everyone 'guessing' it might be gang-related must not have read this sentence:
Moderator: Thank you. The sentence has been corrected.
Eastmann
so know to get info abt his occupation?
Redemption
Another tragedy in Ehime, and over a cup of coffee.
jeffy
Fighto! Today 05:39 pm JST
As if to literally prove my point that Black-on-Black shootings are a subject which the media would rather not address, my comment in response to Fighto! drawing attention to the media as a whole ignoring this major aspect to gun violence in the US was deleted! I would like to thank the moderator for vindicating my position against those who had downvoted it. https://youtu.be/5LLCSySyFQ8
John
Someone pissed off a local yak.
kaimycahl
I can't believe he was not stabbed!! The weapon of choice in Japan any other place guns!
Gene Hennigh
This Is the Japanese equivalent of a mass shooting. Gun murder is extremely rare. As has been pointed out in another post, knives are for more usual than guns. As to the occupation of the victim, he might easily have been a man behind in loan payments or someone who did or said something to enrage the yakuza. Investigation will likely find his status. This is quite an unusual crime in any case.
pOcketMonster
They have balls to kill someone in plain daylight, someone at the top rank of the japanese police is probably outraged, after years of making life a misery for the yakuza... looks like some arrogant boss didn't learn the lesson.
If they are able to capture him and link him to any organization, they don't need a confession, under new japanese laws the boss is responsible for any act commited by his troopers.
3 years ago they sentenced Kudo Kai's boss Nomura to death without proof or confession but based on the 'Employers responsability'. In the past the police didn't bother too much if they were killing each other only when civilians got caught in the middle but it changed some years ago because of the boldness of them
njca4
I hope they've got more to go on than that.
jeffy
njca4 Today 12:28 am JST
They do. They have video. https://youtu.be/pzo73jYl3Ew
Sanjinosebleed
40000 gun deaths in the US for 2023 while there are on average 10 in Japan! ThankfullyJapan has such strict gun rules…the US could definitely learn something for Japan on this issue!
usually the Yakuza keep this sort of thing amongst themselves and out of the public spotlight. It is concerning that the perp was willing to do this at such a public place!
Paul
Just like in the old Yakuza movies.
Hawk
A 62-year-old senior member of Ikeda-gumi is wanted for the murder. It seems the killing stemmed from a personal dispute:
news.livedoor.com/article/detail/25705232/
kurisupisu
Not all incidents are reported in Japan.
I personally know more than a few.
Seen the scene of a doctor’s suicide that was never reported either.
Know a medical professional that dealt with a yak who had been gutted rolled up to the hospital, opened the door and his guts were spilling out.
I’ve been at the scene of a sword fight that never made the news at all.
So, there are a lot of incidents that go on but none are the wiser….