Knife Attack Suspect In Japan Disabled Care Home Killing ‘Wanted Euthanasia’ For Patients


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Satoshi Uematsu, the 26-year-old suspected of killing 19 and injuring 25 in a knife attack at a care facility in Japan, “wanted euthanasia” for disabled people.

On July 26, the knife attack suspect broke into the Tsukui Yamayuri En (Tsukui Lily Garden) care home in the town of Sagamihara in Japan’s Kanagawa prefecture and went on a rampage, killing 19 people and injuring 25 as they slept.

The Japanese public is shocked by the brutal stabbing incident, which is one of the worst mass killings in the country for more than two decades.

The victims ranged in age from 19 to 70 years of age. All were stabbed while they were fast asleep, and many of the wounded are said to be in a serious condition. The suspect turned himself in to the local police at around 2:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday, reportedly around 2 hours after stabbing the victims.

Reuters quoted the Japanese broadcaster NTV as saying Satoshi Uematsu wrote a letter to the speaker of the lower house of Japan’s parliament recently, where he recommended euthanizing the disabled.

In that letter, he said that “my goal is a world in which, in cases where it is difficult for the severely disabled to live at home and be socially active, they can be euthanized with the consent of their guardians.”

Reportedly, authorities are still probing the motives of the attacker, but according to local media, speculation is rife that Uematsu may have become angry after he was fired from a job at the facility for the disabled.

So far, authorities have ruled out any link between the suspected attacker and Islamic extremism.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, condemned the attack, telling the media that “this is a very heart-wrenching and shocking incident in which many innocent people became victims.”

Uematsu reportedly lived in a neighborhood approximately 500 meters from the disabled facility where the knife attack occurred. The two-story house (pictured top of article) reportedly had weeds growing untended around the entrance.

The Japanese news service Mainichi quotes a 73-year-old neighbor of the knife wielding suspect, who described Uematsu as a “cheerful” person.

He said, “The rumor in the neighborhood was that Uematsu quit his job after it was found out that he had tattoos. Just about five days ago Uematsu said hello to me. Sometimes his friends would come over and I would hear them chatting. I don’t understand why such a cheerful person would do this.”

Another neighbor said that up until four or five years ago, Uematsu had lived in the house with his parents, but reportedly they have since moved to a Tokyo suburb, and Uematsu has been living alone in the house.

A 76-year-old man living close by said Uematsu’s father is an elementary school teacher. He said Uematsu was also “trying to become a teacher and had taught in training at a nearby elementary school.”

The neighbor said Uematsu would greet him and that he had heard that while in training, the suspect in the knife attack was a good teacher. He was surprised, however, when he recently saw Uematsu in front of the home with dyed blonde hair, which had always been black up until that point.

Mainichi also quotes Kiyoshi Nakatsuka, 73, the father of a 45-year-old patient in the disabled care home, who survived the attack.

While Nakatsuka had never heard of or met Uematsu, he said how angry he was that his son’s life might also have been in danger.

“Attacking friendly, non-confrontational disabled people in the middle of the night was despicable and there’s something wrong with him. I can’t forgive him,” he said.

[Photo by AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko]

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