Man Kills Passers-by in Stabbing Rampage in Tokyo's Akihabara

Tokyo, June 8 (Jiji Press)--A man hit pedestrians with a truck and went on a stabbing rampage in Tokyo's Akihabara district Sunday, killing seven people and injuring 10 others. The 25-year-old man, Tomohiro Kato, was arrested near the scene. According to police, the man was from Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, and confessed, "I came to Akihabara to kill people. I got sick of the world. Anyone satisfied my desire." At around 12:30 p.m. (3:30 a.m. GMT), the man drove a 2-ton truck, which he likely rented, into a crowd on the main street of Akihabara, known for electronics shops, and attacked passers-by with a knife, according to police. A survival knife was seized. Killed in the attack were six men at the ages of 19-74 as well as a 21-year-old woman. The injured include a policeman. Police received an emergency call shortly after 12:30 p.m. that six pedestrians were stabbed. Kato appeared to be neither drunk nor affected by drug and said also that he was tired of life, according to police. He is believed to be registered with a staffing agency, as he has been living in an apartment building entirely rented by the company. A resident of the apartment building said that the man seemed low-key and the he has not seen him for a couple of months. The stabbing spree is probably the second worst in Japan after eight primary schoolchildren were killed by a knife-wielding man in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, in June 2001. He was executed in September 2004. - end.