A man who was found dead in his car on a rail crossing in Chiba Prefecture on Tuesday morning is believed to have killed a woman a few hours earlier.
According to police, a train driver on the JR Sotobo Line spotted a car on a crossing near Yatsumie Station in Chosei-mura at around 3:50 a.m. Tuesday and stopped the train, Fuji TV reported. Police found a man, later identified as Shinji Umeda, 41, in the driver’s seat, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the head. A gun was on the seat beside him.
At 6:30 a.m., the body of a 61-year-old woman was found on an isolated farm road in Mobara city, about seven kilometers away. The woman had been shot in the head. Police said Wednesday she had been shot by the same gun. They said that from her personal belongings they were able to ascertain that she and Umeda knew each other, and both were from Aichi Prefecture.
Police believe Umeda killed the woman and then himself.
© Japan Today
13 Comments
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James Stowe
How did he get a gun?
Spitfire
Man,there are so many bizarre crimes over especially involving family members.
If you haven't tried the 'Tokyo Reporter' website yet you should do.......today it is lit up with family killings that most news sources in Japan leave well alone to keep up its utopia image.
Tom Young
The order sounds right.
kiwi07
As usual, we'll have to wait for more details. But from the description of the area, it seems a bit inaka, so it isn't that uncommon for a person to have a shotgun license, or other type of gun license in inaka.
I'm more confused by the ages; 41 and 61. I wonder what the relationship between them was?
nandakandamanda
Bizarre and sad news, plus one. How ever did this driver manage to stop the train in time? An alert driver at last.
Mark
A Gun?? are you sure? or is this a typo???
3RENSHO
The gun, by extrapolation, could infer that the man had Yakuza connections, if not full-fledged membership...
kaimycahl
Could this be a case of the son killing his mother? AGAIN
moonbloom
By coincidence met someone from Mobara last week...apparently that town is rife with yakuza.
miss_oikawa
To be fair, there's not much else to do there.
garypen
Probably found it in a konbini toilet after a cop left it in there.
Brian Wheway
@garypen you beat me to it! darn!
Trapped
Umm, guns exist in Japan. Shotguns being one of the easiest to be licensed for. But these stiffs (RIP) are from Aichi. Yakuza.