crime

Man says he attacked police officer, hoping he would be shot dead

14 Comments

Police in Tokyo have arrested a 49-year-old man on suspicion of assault and interfering with police in the performance of their duty after he slashed an officer with a knife.

According to police, the incident occurred outside a convenience store in Toshima Ward at around 10:30 p.m. Friday, Sankei Shimbun reported. Earlier, police had received a call from a store employee, saying there was an injured man outside the store.

When police arrived, the man slashed a 30-year-old officer in the face with a knife before he was subdued. 

Police said the man told them he wanted to commit suicide and was hoping a police officer would shoot him dead.

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14 Comments
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A sad story. But it's another example showing that Japan is not a trigger-happy country, that Japan's police (and individuals) can deal with a serious confrontation without resorting to pulling out a gun to kill their attacker. I feel safe in Japan thanks in large part to its sensible gun laws.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Hmmm, apparently this doesn't work as well or as easily in Japan as 'elsewhere'. It must be terrible to be suicidal, decide finally that the end to this place had to come, and then discovering your brainstem has a completely different idea and won't let you do it. But terminal Human desperation is not to be thwarted, at least according to this evidence, so what to do? Oh yeah! Go down to your local koban and ask the nice officer to shoot you. Poor kid's been reading way too much news from America... In America, suicide is a police service but you must present in your hand with something, ANYTHING, which could be misconstrued for a weapon by a near sighted bat, and the service comes with a 100% GUARANTEE. America does it better...

3 ( +6 / -3 )

If you want to die, why choose such a method where you have to injure a policeman to get what you want? The police are people too who had risk their lives to do their job. Does he want his family to sue the police force or something to get some money out of it? Because this is not the way to go. Such a coward to hope someone else do the job for him.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Suicide by attacking a police officer??? That's new!

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

^^^ Hardly.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

I don’t have much respect for Jcops, but this officer/s is a hero. In less developed countries the police would just murder him.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Over here, it is called "suicide by cop." The tragic thing is when a suicidal man shoots at a cop, hoping to get killed, but then kills or injures the cop, while he gets taken into custody, unharmed. If someone insists on committing suicide, please don't force others to go with you.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

If he was suicidal before, just imagine how he must feel now. So what do we do with such a person? Keep him somewhere where there are no knives for the rest of his life?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

but then kills or injures the cop, while he gets taken into custody, unharmed.

Not on THIS planet...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

This is just depressing to read, to go to such lengths to end yourself. Fortunately, he's in the wrong country for such. I don't condone suicide but there are many painless ways to do so without harming those around you. I'm willing to bet that it this man had someone to talk to and life gave him more slack, he wouldn't resort to such. I hope the police officer is okay.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I don’t have much respect for Jcops, but this officer/s is a hero. In less developed countries the police would just murder him.

agree with you 100%

1 ( +1 / -0 )

This story reminds me of a story in America some years ago. A high school student went to school with a fake gun, scared the hell out of everybody and the school went into a lock down mode. The police arrived and encircled him with guns drawn and they ordered him to put the gun down. He put the gun down in the hallway. The officers then told him to step away from the gun, but then the boy did the craziest thing. He smiled at the officers, bent down, picked up the gun and began to lift it while pointing it at the officers. They shot him dead on the spot. Later they examined the gun and discovered that it was just a very realistic looking toy pistol. The media were very tough on the police officers involved, but the police, according to their guidelines, waited much longer than they were supposed to with a potential school shooter. Suicide with the assistance of the police.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

'Suicide by cop' causes nothing but trouble for all parties concerned. Remember the subway scene in 'Into the Night'? Messy.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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