A quiet Osaka neighbourhood descended into chaos on Thursday as a man from Tokyo allegedly rammed his car into a group of schoolchildren, leaving seven injured and prompting a swift police arrest.
According to Japanese public broadcaster NHK and various other local media outlets, the children had been returning home from school when the vehicle struck them. All seven sustained injuries and were transported to hospital, though each remained conscious at the time of admittance.
The Osaka police detained a 28-year-old man who resided in Tokyo on suspicion of attempted murder, as reported by unnamed investigative sources. Authorities had not immediately confirmed the incident to the foreign news agency.
NHK disclosed that the man confessed to police, stating, “I was fed up with everything, so I rammed the car into them thinking to kill someone.”
Nippon TV broadcast witness accounts which described the vehicle as “zigzagging” into the children. One eyewitness reported that a girl appeared “covered in blood” while other children seemed to suffer from scratches.
Another witness, quoted by Nippon TV, stated that the man wore a surgical mask and “looked like he was in shock” after school teachers dragged him from the car.
Though Japan remained known for its low rates of violent crime, the nation had faced chilling exceptions.
In 2008, Tokyo’s Akihabara district witnessed a devastating attack when a man named Tomohiro Kato drove a rented two-tonne truck into a crowd before initiating a stabbing spree, which resulted in the deaths of seven people.
“I came to Akihabara to kill people. It didn’t matter who I’d kill,” Kato told police at the time.
He later faced the death sentence and was executed by hanging in 2022.
Prior to that attack, prosecutors revealed that Kato had expressed grievances online about his unstable employment and profound loneliness. He reportedly suffered a blow to his self-esteem when a woman, whom he had been corresponding with via email, ceased all communication after he sent her his photograph.
