Madman kills seven in Tokyo stabbing frenzy

Jun 8 2008 By Garry McConnachie

Tomohiro Kato

This picture shows Tomohiro Kato being arrested

THERE was carnage on the streets of Tokyo's electronics district when a madman rammed a truck into a crowd of shoppers before embarking on a wild killing spree.

The maniac jumped out of the truck and stabbed a number of people, killing at least seven and wounding 10 others.

The deadly lunchtime assault paralysed the Akihabara neighnourhood, popular among the country's cyber-wise youth. Police say the killings are the latest in a series of grizzly knife attacks that have stoked fears of a rise in crime in Japan.

A 25-year-old man, Tomohiro Kato, was apprehended in the attack. Local news reports initially said the man was a self-proclaimedmobster, but national broadcaster NHK later said the suspect was not agang member.

A spokesman for Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said: "The suspect told police he came to Akihabara to killpeople.
 
"He said he was tired of life. He said he was sick of everything."

The violence began when he crashed a rented, two-ton truck intopedestrians. News reports said he jumped out and began stabbing thepeople he'd knocked down with the truck, then turned on horrifiedonlookers.

Police confirmed seven deaths - six men and one woman - but theycould not say whether the victims had died of injuries from the truckor were stabbed to death.

Reports have stated the attacker grunted and roared as he slashed andstabbed at Sunday shoppers crowding a street lined with huge storespacked with computers and other advanced electronics, and the latest invideo and computer games.

One witness said: "He was screaming as he was stabbing people at random."
 
At least 17 ambulances rushed to the scene, andTV footage showed rescue workers tending to victims in the street.

An amateur video taken five minutes after the rampage showedshoppers helping the victims and a man screaming: "Ambulance,Ambulance!"
 
Police earlier said 12 people were wounded but later lowered the number 10.

Once rare, stabbing attacks have become more frequent in Japan in recent years as violent crime has increased.

In March, one person was stabbed to death and at least sevenothers were hurt by a man who went on a slashing spree with two knivesoutside a shopping mall in eastern Japan.

In one of the worst attacks,a man with a history of mental illness burst into an elementary schoolin Japan in 2001 and killed eight children. The killer was executed in2004.