Two dead, including policeman, in rare Japan violent crime

TOKYO — Two people including a policeman were killed in Japan on Tuesday, officials said, when a man stabbed the officer, seized his gun and shot a security guard dead in a rare violent crime.

A police spokesman told AFP the attacker had stabbed the officer at a police station in central Toyama prefecture, then grabbed his gun and fled the scene.

The officer, 46-year-old Kenichi Inaizumi, was confirmed dead at a hospital, the police spokesman added.

The attacker, reportedly a former military serviceman, then shot and killed Shinichi Nakamura, a 68-year-old security guard working nearby, according to local police.

Nakamura was rushed to hospital, but also died of his wounds.

The guard was attacked near the front gate of an elementary school where more than 400 students were forced to take shelter in its gymnasium after the shooting, local media said.

The suspect himself was seriously injured after being shot in the stomach by police as they tried to arrest him. He was then detained.

Police said "no other people were injured" in the attack, a relatively rare incident in Japan, which prides itself on a low crime rate.

The attacker was identified by local media as Keita Shimazu, 21, a former member of Japan's Ground Self-Defence Force.

The suspect joined the military in 2015 and was stationed at Camp Kanazawa, west of Toyama, public broadcaster NHK said.

He conducted rifle exercises before quitting in March last year, NHK added.

The news reports could not be immediately confirmed.

Gun crime is especially low in Japan, where weapons are strictly regulated.

According to the latest figures from the national police agency, there were only 22 incidents of a gun being fired in 2017, resulting in three deaths and five injuries.

In April, a young police officer was arrested after shooting dead a colleague he said was bullying him.