One man is in a critical condition.
A 24-year-old Japanese man has been detained under suspicion of attempted murder following an attack on a train in Tokyo on Halloween night.
Kyota Hattori was dressed as Joker from DC Comics’ Batman series when he carried out the attack on the public.
Hattori assaulted a 72-year-old man with a knife, and attempted to start a major fire in another carriage with lighter fluid and a flame. He had planned to increase the blaze via aerosol cans before being arrested by police.
The knife attack victim is currently in a critical condition in hospital, and sixteen people in the second carriage are being treated for burns and smoke inhalation.
A similar attack occurred in August of this year, when Yusuke Tsushima injured 10 on a train with cooking oil and a knife.
According to national newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, Hattori told police that he was directly influenced by this earlier attack, and he had hoped to get the death penalty after he was caught.
“I wanted to die. I thought that if I killed two or more people, I would get the death penalty. It didn’t matter who they were,” Hattori said while under interrogation.
Several videos were posted to social media as the attack was being carried out, where smoke can be seen coming from the fifth carriage, and passengers running to safety.
https://twitter.com/eizo_desk/status/1454792694811660298?s=20
The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry in Japan is now calling on train operators to increase vigilance and to put measures in place to identify potential threats.
A directive is to be put into place on Monday (1 November) to consider prevention methods.
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