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Police shot a man threatening them with a knife at his apartment in Kasama, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Wednesday.
Police said the incident occurred at 5:15 a.m., Fuji TV reported. Police were responding to a 110 call about a loud argument coming from the apartment of Kazuki Ikeda, a construction worker.
When police arrived, Ikeda and another man were fighting at the entrance to the apartment. Ikeda then advanced and threatened police with a kitchen knife, despite being warned to drop it. One officer fired two shots at Ikeda, hitting him in the right side and thigh. Ikeda was taken to hospital where doctors said his wounds were not life-threatening. The man Ikeda was quarreling with was not injured.
Police said Ikeda, who was drunk at the time, will be arrested on suspicion of interfering with police in the performance of their duty.
© Japan Today
19 Comments
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OssanAmerica
Many LEOs in the US require counselling to deal with the trauma of having to shoot/kill someone in the line of duty. Don't take the worst examples as representing all police officers in the US.
foreignbrotherhoodarmy
Good on them for tagging him, he’s clearly a danger
Dee
Shot the suspect in the thigh? Only fired twice? Lucky for him that the officer never received any training in the U.S.
serendipitous1
Threatening police with a knife is only considered to be, 'interfering with police in the performance of their duty'? That sounds like a nice, Japanese way of saying, 'attempted murder'!!
Randy Johnson
Good.
The person in question has a weapon which can, does and will do harm.
As police training dictates, it it best to keep the public safe at all possible costs.
The knife weilding individual chose a bad path.
His fault. And only his fault. Period.
asiafriend
Dee Dec. 31, 2020 03:30 pm JST
Shot the suspect in the thigh? Only fired twice? Lucky for him that the officer never received any training in the U.S.
What kind of baloney is that. Obviously you were never attacked. Being an arm chair quarterback is so easy.
Police in the US are trained to hit the largest body mass to have a higher percentage of hitting the target. Unlike navy seals who only need one shot to the head, “One Shot, One Kill”, is their motto.
Very few police ever need to fire their weapons at an assailant, even for their entire career (unless they patrol in Chicago). When the adrenaline is flowing it is a world of difference from being at the shooting range. At the range, one practices firing at a cardboard cutout or whatever the range has, firing with the dominant hand and then with the weaker hand in case the dominant hand is injured, firing straight at the target or from behind a barrier, so many real life possibilities. But any firearms instructor will tell you there is still a world of difference between the “calmness” of the range and a real life threatening situation.
For their safety and that of the public, police do not aim for the legs of the person shooting at them or coming at them with a knife, as Joe Biden suggested they should do. Guaranteed that if he was attacked by an assassin, he would not want the Secret Service to shoot at the assassin’s leg. Imagine the scenario in which a person with a gun is shooting at the police and the police aim for his leg. In the meantime, the criminal shoots and hits an innocent civilian, maybe a child, and the civilian dies. The first thing the anti-police liberals will say is “Why did you let the civilian die? Why did you not kill the assailant?” I guarantee this is what the anti-police will say. They will never blame the criminal at all, or they will make the excuse of a deprived childhood, etc..
tooheysnew
it’s a good thing the bullet didn’t go through his leg and ricochet into a small child. It’s common sense to shoot the largest part of someone’s body. No one is shot to “injure”, it’s a last resort put them down. Trying to hit a smaller target like a leg is just stupid. The chance of missing, a ricochet, or hitting an artery and causing death
the police can’t win. They shoot & kill a dangerous criminal, & the do-gooders complain about overuse of force.
Now when they shoot him in the leg, people still complain
Sal Affist
Do Japanese Police not have a taser? I also have seen Japanese Police demonstrations of their unarmed combat techniques, where they use certain man-catching tools to subdue knife-wielding suspects, but it sounds like they didn't bring those with them or the apartment entrance was not wide enough to deploy them. Japanese Police normally do not fire shots - sometimes in their entire careers.
H
Takumi,
Japanese police side-arms are only one step above toy guns in the US. The .38 caliber and the grain they use would easily be stopped by my ice hockey gear(not speculation btw lol). I wouldn't be so worried about ricochets. Especially after already making contact with a person.
And I don't believe the police officer was aiming for a leg, he was probably shitting his pants and did the best he could. As a multiple tour combat veteran I can personally attest to shooting people is a lot harder than it is made out on tv.
Wishing the best and speedy recovery for everyone involved.
TakumiDec. 31, 2020 10:40 pm JST
it’s a good thing the bullet didn’t go through his leg and ricochet into a small child. It’s common sense to shoot the largest part of someone’s body. No one is shot to “injure”, it’s a last resort put them down. Trying to hit a smaller target like a leg is just stupid. The chance of missing, a ricochet, or hitting an artery and causing death anyways is high.
Jim
Lots of crazy people out there! The police did well to avoid injuries to themselves or other people by shooting this knife wielding maniac! Anyone feeling sorry for him or complaining about police action in this instanced would definitely feel otherwise if this maniac was approaching you while wielding that knife!
Peter Neil
That's so they can claim disability for PTSD and retire on $120,000 per year, move to Florida and spend the rest of their life doing therapy like cleaning the swimming pool and playing golf.
Takumi
it’s a good thing the bullet didn’t go through his leg and ricochet into a small child. It’s common sense to shoot the largest part of someone’s body. No one is shot to “injure”, it’s a last resort put them down. Trying to hit a smaller target like a leg is just stupid. The chance of missing, a ricochet, or hitting an artery and causing death anyways is high.
Sven Asai
Don’t ever drink with a knife in your hand. Better use a beer glass. lol
Lorem ipsum
Not to generalize, but we often see such stories about involving construction workers, fire fighters or other blue collar workers. I guess these folk are cut from a different cloth.
Isn't this what Americans call obstruction of justice? What kinda shocks me is that a police officer could take any disagreement you have with him and turn it into obstruction of justice/interference with performance of duties.
Peter Neil
Hey, I have nothing but respect for Japanese police. They really are first rate.
japanamericaawesome
He just needs to chill from the argument.
If the police tries to calm you down, that means you are clearing doing something wrong.
Don't answer it by sticking a knife at him