Advertisement

Japan police catch suspect in post office hostage drama, hospital shooting

  • A man took hostages in a post office near Tokyo after a nearby hospital shooting, from the street, that injured a doctor and patient
  • Citizens were urged to follow police instructions and evacuate. There was speculation the man could be carrying kerosene

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
1
Police guard the area around a post office where a suspected gunman took people hostage in Warabi city in Saitama prefecture, near Tokyo, on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Japanese police have captured a gunman who holed up at a post office and have rescued a member of staff who was held hostage, NHK television reported on Tuesday.

Advertisement

It followed a more than eight-hour stand-off with the man, who entered the post office with a gun in Warabi, north of Tokyo, an hour after a hospital shooting in which two people were wounded in the nearby city of Toda.

Police said they were investigating the two cases together because of a possibility they are related. They are also looking into a fire that broke out in a building near the hospital around the time of the shooting.

Hundreds of police were reportedly mobilised to surround the three-storey building housing the post office, a few miles from Tokyo. Several police cars with flashing lights were there as night fell.

“This is a quiet neighbourhood. I can’t believe something like this is happening,” said local resident Tetsuo Sasaki, 70.

Police stand near Warabi post office, a few miles from Tokyo, where a suspected gunman barricaded himself in on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE
Police stand near Warabi post office, a few miles from Tokyo, where a suspected gunman barricaded himself in on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Television footage had showed officers wearing bulletproof vests squatting behind the doors of a patrol vehicle parked outside and showed the suspect – an older-looking man wearing a cap and holding a gun – briefly showing up at the entrance.

loading
Advertisement