Police in Fukuoka shot a 41-year-old man after he threatened them with a knife while they were questioning him at the entrance to his apartment on Sunday night.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 7:45 p.m. at a municipal housing block in Minami Ward, Fuji TV reported. Police said they had received a call from the man’s relatives, who live in another prefecture, asking them to check up on him. They said he had been acting strangely recently.
When police knocked on the door, the man answered. As they were talking, he suddenly pulled out a knife. One officer told him to drop the knife but when he refused and threatened them, the other officer fired two shots, hitting the man in the stomach. The officers were not injured.
Police said Monday the man was in a serious but stable condition and will wait until he recovers before arresting him for attempted murder and obstructing police in the performance of their duties.
© Japan Today
37 Comments
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Mickelicious
Why didn't they have a social worker with them?
Hiro
Bring a knife to a gun fight. Hehe, remind me of this saying.
I wonder if the government would considered introducing tasers for the police. It would make their job a lot easier in my opinion. Because recently a lot of the attackers are using knives now. Too many officers are getting stab or even losing fingers for trying to apprehend them.
Peter Neil
Getting shot is a pretty rare thing in Japan.
お巡りさん are usually very cool and don't overreact.
sakurasuki
Act strangely can be have many different meaning, especially during pandemic with new measure taking place lot of people not get used to it.
Or simple baton with sufficient training can help to prevent that.
kurisupisu
So, the officers shot the man in his own home?
since1981
For those of you who are/are planning to negatively judge the police's actions, unless you where there witnessing it first hand, please don't comment.
Goodlucktoyou
2 shots? Stomach? 1 shot in the thigh would have been enough.
therougou
Better they shot him before getting stabbed.
Ken Holcomb
Yes, and this how that would work.
Cop 1 "Sir could you kindly step back a couple of steps so I can aim at your skinny thigh."
Cop 2: "Looks like he's not going to step back, and since he has a knife and is close enough to slash my throat, I'm going to shoot him in the way I was trained."
Tw/o shots, center mass.
It's not a video game. Real life adrenaline and a real life threat.
Hervé L'Eisa
Play STUPID GAMES, win STUPID prizes!
And for the Police-haters, if a person becomes aggressive towards an officer of THE LAW, don't be surprised if that doesn't go well for the criminal.
Ken Wyatt
They should really replace guns with less lethal weapons like tasers.
dan
Cs gas or a tazer gun would work fine
Hervé L'Eisa
Murder? The guy isn't dead but in serious (because he got shot!) condition.
Police don't respond ONLY to crimes but also in other capacities. What are you afraid for???
starpunk
tasers work wonders but did this idiot really think he could stab a cop and get by? And this isn't police brutality, the suspect isn't dead.
Richard Gallagher
Most unfortunate. Certainly, not the outcome the family members anticipated. Not having been at the scene, retreat may have been a better option. After all, it was his apartment and apparently the police were not welcome. As for his mental state, that seems to have been the initial concern.
rgcivilian1
Again the 3rd such case within the last 3 months when we NEVER heard of such occurrences or actions by police. "Police in Fukuoka shot a 41-year-old man after he threatened them with a knife while they were questioning him at the entrance to his apartment on Sunday night." With as much technology today and no gun laws there is no need for such dramatic action by police in Japan. There are other ways to resolve the situation. The police could have backed away, calmly and not immediately draw deadly force in use. Now in other countries yes it is necessary but they the criminals aka suspects have guns too. No seems the cops in Japan are just too trigger happy and its happening more frequently too. A sign of the past.
RINFO
"he suddenly pulled out a knife. officer told him to drop the knife but he refused and threatened them"
"attempted murder" on an officer..
= hella long time in the slammer...
pudus
he may deniably have unwittingly wanted to use them to perhaps conveniently help him check out, but selective amnesia might be an alternative reason.
Eppee
I would assume the man had some mental disorder and wasn't able to think about anything when this happened ....
Tommy Eddy Kookabura
Don't open the door when any police knocks and don't speak to them either. No arrest warrant, no crime suspected... Walk a way. That's what a lawyer told me.
Brian Wheway
May be the J police need to look at the taser or CS gas these would have been a better option in certain scenario, but if they only have a hand gun for protection at the minute as its their first line of defence, unfortunately I think you see a few more shooting, all of which could have been avoided if the other forms of self defence was available.
fuzzylogic
@Tommy Eddy Kookabura,
"Don't open the door when any police knocks and don't speak to them either. No arrest warrant, no crime suspected... Walk a way. That's what a lawyer told me."
They say that's only good if you a JN, They say in Shinjuku, they have kicked in doors before.
AustPaul
Hey Tommy what if they’re coming around to canvas the neighbourhood about a recent burglary or something?
Hank Standerford
You shoot to take em out. Leg shot he still could of stabbed. Tasers..just checking out YouTube on how many tasers don’t work. Deadly weapon rates deadly weapon. Good job.
ohara
As always, the armchair experts recommending leg shot, tazers, shooting the knofe out of the perps hand etc. They have no idea what they are talking about.
Jimizo
Are you more than an armchair expert on police officers dealing with knife-wielding criminals?
wowyz
Straight from the Fukuoka Prefectural Police
"“At present, we consider the response appropriate,” a representative of the Fukuoka Prefectural Police said regarding the incident.
ATM's
I do NOT trust the police.
They are good at mis-judgement and non-reasoning capabalities.
and are always trigger happy too!
smithinjapan
There's not a whole lot I admire or respect about the police here, friendly as they CAN be, but their usual calm, cool, and collected style when it comes to use of guns is something I like. You almost never hear of them pulling out their guns, let alone actually shooting a suspect (I have heard of them shooting at the ground to stop a would-be assailant). I wonder what happened here that usually does not and that made them shoot the man.
William Bjornson
And so it begins in Nihon as America's disease of guns and psychopathy becomes pandemic in the rest of the Human perceptual World...
Alongfortheride
Why didn't they have a social worker with them?
WHY?!
starpunk
I have seen and witnessed an arrest done with tasers and I've seen violent arrests handled before with clubs used strategically on the shoulder and/or the knee, NOT THE HEAD. Those methods are effective and police are trained in these ways.
And these cops had the sense at least to disable the attacking suspect, not kill him. That's what cops are supposed to do, apprehend and arrest. These policemen did not commit unnecessary acts.
Mark
Must have been one hell of a knife for the officers to use deadly force.
DOEL HARRY
Shot him twice in the stomach ???? What The Hell is that all about, Either the police in Japan are trained to shoot for the stomach or this cop has very bad aim. As a former shooting instructor - Students are trained to double tap center mass / Chest area to eliminate the threat quickly. This cop is lucky the guy didn't stab him with the knife after getting shot.
DOEL HARRY
21 feet is the estimated distance a guy needs to be able to pull out a knife and attack a person. At 21 feet is the distance where a police office can safely draw his weapon and shoot the the guy with the knife. But I'm sure the police and the guy were closer to each other when he suddenly pulled out a knife and threatened the police. If he was a real threat the guy should have pulled out his knife and attacked the police and not stand there threatening them. Two to Center Mass works 99% of the time & for that 1% where it dose not work put one in his Head and watch him fall like a Rag Doll. Oh Yeah !!!!