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
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.
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.
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.
