KAWASAKI (Japan News/ANN) — The suspected attacker in Tuesday’s stabbing of 19 people — 17 elementary school students and two others — near Noborito Station in Kawasaki was Ryuichi Iwasaki, 51, of the city’s Asao Ward, according to the Kanagawa prefectural police.
Iwasaki is dead after stabbing himself in the neck. According to investigative sources, police have confirmed that Iwasaki was carrying two other knives with him in addition to the two he used in the crime. They therefore increasingly believe that it was a premediated crime based on strong murderous intentions on Iwasaki’s part.
According to the prefectural police, two people were killed: Hanako Kuribayashi, 11, of Tama, Tokyo, and Satoshi Oyama, 39, of Setagaya Ward, Tokyo. Oyama was the father of another student and an employee of the Foreign Ministry.
The attack also left two children and a 45-year-old female parent with serious injuries, and 14 children with mild injuries, among others.
According to investigative sources, Iwasaki, holding a knife in each hand, first stabbed Oyama in the back and elsewhere near a convenience store close to a school bus stop, and then stabbed a girl who was nearby. After that he approached the bus stop, attacking one after another students who were waiting in line to board a school bus.
After the male bus driver yelled at Iwasaki, “What’re you doing?” he moved to a municipal bus stop about 20 meters away, where he stabbed himself in the neck. He fell unconscious on the spot and was confirmed dead about three hours later at a hospital.
The prefectural police found two bloodstained knives near the spot where Iwasaki fell. Another two knives were found in a black backpack thought to have belonged to him.
No contact with neighbors
Iwasaki lived with an elderly couple he was related to in a house in Asao Ward, four or five kilometers from the scene of the crime.
Neighbors said they had no contact with him. They would occasionally see Iwasaki returning home carrying a plastic bag from a convenience store early in the morning, but they did not exchange greetings with him.
According to local residents and acquaintances, Iwasaki was taken in by his relatives almost 40 years ago. He attended local elementary and junior high schools, though a former classmate, now 51, said: “He was quiet and didn’t stand out. I have no memory of him talking with friends.”
However, other residents witnessed him get angry. A housewife in her 70s remembered being terrified when a young Iwasaki flew into a rage at her dog’s barking. “It’s noisy! How about I kill it for you?” she recalled him saying.
A woman in her 40s recalled an incident that occurred about a year ago. She said Iwasaki came to her house, pressing the intercom over and over. He yelled for about 30 minutes, complaining that a tree in her garden was sticking out into the road and had hit him in the eye.
The woman said she saw Iwasaki on Tuesday morning at about 7 a.m. in front of her house. He was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and pants, and carrying a backpack, she said.
He said “good morning” to the woman, then ran off.
“It was the first time he’d spoken to me. Something felt strange, but I never imagined something like this would happen,” she said.
