crime

86-year-old ex-cop found dead in house after killing woman with sword

32 Comments

A former police officer suspected of killing a woman with a sword was found dead in the victim's house in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward on Wednesday afternoon. TV media showed police outside the house during the standoff at Nozawa 1-chome in Setagaya.

According to police, the 86-year-old man, identified as Shigemasu Tokunaga, slashed Setsuko Kubo, 62, in the neck with a sword on the street at about 11:30 a.m. Kubo was taken to hospital but was pronounced dead at 1 p.m., according to Fuji TV.

Tokunaga, who lived across the street from Kubo, apparently broke into Kubo's house and refused to come out or negotiate with police. When police entered the house at 1:40 p.m., they found Tokunaga lying near the entrance, bleeding from wounds to his neck, Fuji reported. He died shortly afterwards, police said.

Local residents said that Kubo and Tokunaga had been quarreling since May. Prior to the attack, Kubo had called 110 to report that her neighbor was spraying pesticide on her, Fuji reported.

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32 Comments
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Hope he offs himself with his sword and saves us taxpayers money.

-10 ( +1 / -11 )

I hear choppers around the neighborhood. Hope the suspect is under arrest by now.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Okay, he has a sword. Police, you have guns (and maybe even a bullet or two). Please try not to let this one slip through the dragnet of j-stones!

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Well that's that...what was he spraying and why did he go berserk? Maybe they both got what was coming to them. Her for being a nosey neighbor and him for slashing her.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

it's 1510 right now, and with so little information in this article, i'm gonna guess that it was some oji-san who killed the oba-san because she was complaining about him spraying chemicals.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Maybe they both got what was coming to them. Her for being a nosey neighbor

Since when did being nosey warrant the death sentence? Spraying unidentified chemicals around the neighbourhood is very anti-social behaviour. Especially if the neighbours have little kids and/or pets.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Oh boy! It's been a big summer for the nuts in society. I just can't believe how frequently these kinds of attacks happen in Japan. People just seem to snap and go totally bizerk over the slightest things. Sad, sad, sad!

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

According to TV reports, these two people have been "at war" for a long time. Their feud was common knowledge among their neighbors. So ... the neighbors said it was no surprise that one did the other in.

I know of and have known of neighbors who "hate" each other. And it sure doesn't create a nice situation ... especially for those who are friends of both feuding parties.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Well that's that...what was he spraying and why did he go berserk? Maybe they both got what was coming to them. Her for being a nosey neighbor and him for slashing her.

Are you bloody joking? How can you even think she deserved to be killed by some psycho? Would you do that with a 'nosey' neighbour? No-one deserves that... if she called 110 then there is obviously a by-law about spraying agricultural chemicals in the area... whatever, no-one deserves that.

RIP the poor woman. Pity the old git killed himself... would have been better if he had been tried in court.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Be wary of sword carrying old men spraying agricultural chemicals.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Too many nutters around Japan waiting to snap.

So, are they going to ban sword now?

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

I've been hearing helicopters all day but didn't think anything of it. This happened so close to my house... It's awful that the woman died, but at least it wasn't a random attack. Sounds like there was probably some kind of feud if they were neighbours. I hope she didn't leave behind any young children. There's no information about her or her relationship with her neighbour in Japanese either.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Another one from the annals of "Wacky Japan", unfortunately. RIP to the poor old woman.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

So, are they going to ban sword now?

Considering one can't even carry a pocket knife around to peel and apple - samurai swirds should dead-set be banned ASAP!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Sorry about the appalling spelling above...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

For those of you worrying about him being caught, I believe if you just read the title, you'll notice it says: "86-year-old ex-cop found dead..."

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Ronald F Stark

He won't be able to "slip away" this time, he's dead.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Horrible news! Kind of reminds me of them nasty machete vs. machete fights back in the Dominican Republic and/or Jamaica. I do hope the Japanese do not get into the Macho machete fights!

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Unfortunate to be home at the time when they were reporting live on the tv. Seems kubo's house was full of gomi. You could see it from the aerial view. Cats ran out when the police climbed up to the second floor. Place looked disgusting. No reason to kill her, but I'm sure years of living across the road from a rubbish hoarder surrounded in filth would get to you....

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Old school...seppuku rather than arrest!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

tmarie:

" So, are they going to ban sword now? "

Do you live in Japan at all? Swords have been banned for a long time. You need to register them at the police are not allowed to take them outside.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Well since none of us know what really happened as there's too little information in this article, the only thing that we can do is guess and speculate. What I do know is that in most civil societies women are seen as weaker sex at some level this is empowering. For example when you see women in the movies hitting men, slapping men, physically attacking men, because they know that society will protect them from some kind of retaliation. This is also the case for verbal abuse. I can't count the number of times I have seen women verbally abusing their men with no fear of any kind of retaliation or retribution because of this invisible protection . A big part of the reason is that they feel they can get away with it or they feel they have a right to because they are "weaker".This feeling of, "well what you going to do about it?" Obviously this is wrong. Well, possibly, that's what he did about it.

I am assuming that this was not a crazy old man. I am also's assuming this was not a crazy old woman. Now, keep in mind that he was her elder by about 20 years. In Japan that's huge gap, and, if she have been fighting with him, feuding with him, I am quite sure there was a big amount of disrespect and insults (probably going both ways), However due to his seniority, the insult added to this injury will be multiplied by factor of ten.

Now if this accumulates overtime, in Japan, it is obvious how this can lead to rage. 20 years is a huge gap. And if he was police officer, he had a high level of self respect, honor and probably, at his advanced age, did not see much more to live for if he could not live with dignity it is own home.

Now, I am not saying that he was right for doing what he did but, I can definitely understand the context in which it may haveescalated and unfolded.

The lesson to be taken from all this I believe is that people who are seemingly defenseless, like much older people, also have less to lose/to live for and therefore things like respect have a much higher value. Possibly enough value to live four or even die for.

Honestly, for me, if it was someone 20 years old than me even today, I would simply let it go. If he's right, even if she's wrong, that much age on me, I would've let it go. Possibly, she should have just let it go.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Do you live in Japan at all? Swords have been banned for a long time. You need to register them at the police are not allowed to take them outside.

Sorry, I'm not up to date on my sword ban at all it seems.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Sad, sad story. Something must be done to check the mental health of some people.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Cecil:

Come on! You're victim blaming.

I don't care how entitled a person feels because they're older or they were a cop. That's a cultural construction and it's nonsense. Men buoyed by their sense of entitlement over age and position (or gender) feel that they should receive special treatment. I don't think that's a positive quality for any country. Everybody deserves a certain default level of respect. Any additional respect we decide to heap on should be in direct proportion to their merits. Simply having aged is not worthy of merit. If you're smart enough to avoid dying, you WILL get older. It's what you do while you're getting older that earns you respect.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

kcufsdom:

" I don't care how entitled a person feels because they're older or they were a cop. "

I doubt that his ex cop position had much to do with it. At 86, his working days were decades behind him. From the TV reporting, it is clear that this was problem between a garbage hoarder and an annoyed neighbour.

And if you have seen footage on TV about other garbage hoarders, you know that these nutcases can get pretty aggressive when someone questions them about their smelly "treasures".

3 ( +3 / -0 )

what the hell?!!! creepy~

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Do some of you even bother to read the story? The guy was found DEAD in his victim's apartment!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Japan has a long history of neighborhood flare-ups over prolonged antisocial behavior. I can recall several murders triggered by irritating noises, such as piano practice, barking dogs, loud stereos and so on. One hoarder can pollute an entire neighborhood with smells and vermin.

We can shut out visual pollution, but noises and smells are very hard to avoid, especially in Japan's high-density housing areas. People can literally go mad after years of enduring this kind of irritation. Japan really needs to introduce effective laws to deal with antisocial behavior before these situations turn tragic.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Japan has a long history of neighborhood flare-ups over prolonged antisocial behavior

Neither is ideal, but better than than random violence and a high murder rate. And Japan is hardly unique in having such behavior or flare-ups.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Kubo had called 110 to report that her neighbor was spraying pesticide on her

And what did the police do? That could be deadly, to the level of attempted murder. Pesticides can be deadly depending on what kind they are, thus 'cide is at the end of it. So its obvious that he had already committed to harming her.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

@kcufsdom: Respect is not "special" treatment. And, I personally do believe that people who are older (physically weaker) whom have put in life time deserve a certain level of care, concern simple by virtue of that fact that they cannot handle the same amount of physical and emotional stress that younger people do. So, withe regards to thie age/respect issue, you and I simply have a different cultural perspective.

And he was almost 90, probably just trying to do what many people thought to do but did not have the courage to do; keep his neighborhood clean. Obviously, I have not been to her house, but I have seen such houses, all of their spider cobwebs garbage and that you're feeling of the windows. Etc. It's disgusting. It's a disgrace.

And, if I lived next to a person like that by myself or with my family I would definitely pay her visit and tell her that she needs to keep her place clean . And, when he did that, I am sure that she responded with disrespect, which is ridiculous so, since she would not clean it, he sprayed it. And things escalated from there. So as Isaid, she was not right for killing her , obviously but I can definitely understand the context.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

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