16 Children Injured And 3 Killed In A School In Japan

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

At least three people have died and 16 minors were injured in a chilling knife attack perpetrated by a subject against a group of Catholic students while they were waiting for the school bus.

The attack occurred on Tuesday morning in Kawasaki, a town located south of Tokyo, when according to multiple sources several students from the Caritas Gakuen school were at a stop waiting to be picked up. Police reported that a subject armed with a knife in each hand pounced on the children, yelling "I'm going to kill them!"

The 39-year-old man, who was reportedly the father of one of the school's students, wounded 17 people, including 16 boys, and killed an 11-year-old girl. Later he killed himself.

Spokesmen for the Kawasaki Fire Department told AFP that at 07:44 am local time, an emergency call was received to report that several students had been stabbed. Witnesses related hellish scenes of children and adults scattered everywhere, some in blood-soaked clothing and children running and screaming for help.

“I heard a scream and stopped and turned around to see what had happened. It wasn't a normal tone of voice, " Yasuko Atsukata told the AP agency. "The color of their white shirts turned red and then they collapsed, then I understood that someone had stabbed them."

Local NHK station reported that two knives were recovered at the crime scene at a nearby train station.

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Kanagawa prefecture police confirmed that 17 people were injured in the attack and that 3 more had died. Spokespersons identified one of the victims as Hanako Kuribayashi, 11, and Satoshi Oyama, 39, a government employee who had left her child at the bus stop. Both had neck and head cuts.

“Many young children were assaulted and I feel deep resentment. We must keep our children safe at all costs,” Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, told the press to refer to the attack. "I have issued instructions to the respective ministers to take immediate action to ensure the safety of children when entering and leaving school."