Man on shooting, stabbing spree kills 2 cops, woman in Japan

Police officers responded to reports of a shooting and stabbing in Japan’s Nagano region on Thursday that left at least three people dead, including two police officers, state media NHK World reported.

Police earlier said a masked man armed with a rifle and knife was hiding in a building in Nagano after attacking at least four people.

NHK public television quoted an eyewitness as reporting that a woman fell while chasing the suspect, who stabbed her and opened fire on two police officers as they arrived at the scene.

According to the police, three of the injured, including a woman, were taken to a nearby hospital and were later declared brought dead.

According to police descriptions, the suspect was wearing camouflage clothing, a hat, a mask and goggles, Kyodo news agency said. City officials urged residents in the area to stay indoors.

According to CBS News Japan’s strict laws on private gun ownership have surprising origins in America, reports say. When the United States occupied Japan after World War II, it disarmed the country. The Americans passed legislation that kept firearms out of the hands of Japanese citizens.

As per CNNIn 2018, Japan, a country of 125 million people, had just nine deaths from firearms — compared with 39,740 in the United States this year, according to data compiled by the University of Sydney’s Sydney School of Public Health.

But the country was rocked by a shooting last year that reverberated around the world as the country’s former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, was shot dead during a campaign speech in Nara in July.

Firearms are extremely difficult to obtain in Japan, and the suspect in Abe’s shooting used a homemade weapon.