Suspect of shooting and kidnapping in Japan is a former member of the Japanese mafia – Observer

A man arrested on Tuesday in Japan as allegedly responsible for a shooting at a hospital and the taking of hostages at a post office is a former member of Japanese organized crime, local media reported this Wednesday.

Tsuneo Suzuki, 86, was detained on Tuesday at a post office in Warabi (Saitama prefecture, north of Tokyo), where he barricaded himself for more than eight hours and detained two workers.

Suzuki invaded the post office holding a firearm, with which he fired several shots, according to eyewitnesses, and was detained by the police in the same location after the two hostages managed to escape unharmed.

The suspect is believed to be a former member of a ‘yakuza’ (Japanese mafia) group, whose members the Japanese authorities keep records of, and a weapon similar to a pistol was confiscated upon arrest.

Authorities believe that Tsuneo Suzuki was also the perpetrator of another shooting that occurred an hour earlier at Toda General Hospital, 1.5 kilometers from the post office, and in which a doctor and a patient were injured, both not seriously. .

According to the ongoing investigation, Suzuki allegedly fired shots at the hospital from the street and then fled on a motorbike towards the post office, where he barricaded himself.

Asked about his motivations, the suspect said he held a grudge against the postal service because he had been involved in an accident with one of that company’s vehicles and was dissatisfied with the treatment he received after this episode, according to state broadcaster NHK, which cites police sources.

Tsuneo Suzuki also confessed to being the perpetrator of the shooting at the hospital, as well as setting fire to the apartment where he lived, in another incident that occurred shortly before the shooting and hostage taking, NHK reported.

Authorities found several ammunition, kitchen knives, bottles of flammable liquid and a lighter in the suspect’s home.

Suzuki is suspected of the crimes of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition and extortion of hostages, among other possible crimes, and should remain in detention until formal charges are filed against him.