Kawasaki, stabs random people: 14 injured and two dead, including a 12-year-old

The aggressor committed suicide stabbing himself in the neck. The girl was a student at a Catholic school in the Tama district. She had been waiting for the school bus with her friends. It is believed that the attacker is a 51-year-old resident of the Asao district of Kawasaki.

Tokyo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A 12-year-old girl and a man in his thirties died, while another 14 people were injured in a mass stabbing this morning near a Catholic school in Tama, Kawasaki district (prefecture of Kanagawa). Police officers rushed to the scene of the tragedy immobilized a man believed to be the author of the attack, but he died after he stabbed himself.

A 40-year-old woman and two elementary school students are in serious condition. Based on the first findings by police, it is believed that the suspect chose random passers-by. In the minutes following the attack - which took place around 7.45 am - the rescuers found a bleeding man on the ground; two kitchen knives with blood stains close to the body.

The agents immediately took him into custody. According to authorities, the man stabbed himself in the neck and died at the hospital where he was transported. It is believed that the bomber is a 51-year-old resident of the Asao district of Kawasaki. The police are committed to confirming his identity and the reason for the attack.

The site of the massacre (photo) is near the Noborito station, on the Odakyu line. The investigators say that the students of the Caritas Elementary School, located about 1.5 kilometers north-west of the train station, were waiting for the school bus when they were attacked by the killer. "A man with a kitchen knife in each hand came towards the school bus, and suddenly he started to stab children who were in line to get on the bus," an eyewitness said.

The Caritas Elementary School was founded by the school operator Caritas Gakuen in 1963. It places priority on Catholic education and also has affiliated middle and high schools and daycare. In the 2018 academic year, the elementary school had 647 students (63 boys and 584 girls). Every day, a school bus transports students from the Noborito station to the institute and vice versa.