XPost: japan.soc.crime, alt.activism.death-penalty, talk.politics.guns

The knife-wielding maniac dressed as the Joker who went on a
rampage on a Japanese train Sunday told police he hoped to get
the death penalty because he’d “messed up at work,” according to
a report.

“I wanted to die,” Kyota Hattori, 24, told cops of the 8 p.m.
attack that left 17 people injured — and ended with now-viral
footage of him calmly sitting cross-legged and smoking a
cigarette on the Tokyo train he’d also partially set on fire.

“I messed up at work around June and wasn’t getting along with
friends,” Hattori explained to police, according to the Japan
News, which did not elaborate on what had happened.

“I thought that if I killed two or more people, I would get the
death penalty. It didn’t matter who they were,” he allegedly
confessed.

Hattori said he sprayed pesticide into the eyes of a 72-year-old
man who was next to him on the express train — then tried to
kill him by stabbing him in the chest with a 12-inch knife, the
report said.

He confessed to wanting to kill the man, who is in critical
condition after the knife pierced his lung, the paper said.

He then moved to another car, where he spread lighter fluid and
set seats and the surroundings on fire, with most of the 16
other injuries coming from smoke inhalation, officials said.

Hattori confessed to being inspired by an earlier Tokyo train
attack in which 10 people were injured in August, noting how the
cooking oil used that time did not spread.

“Looking at the Odakyu Line train case in August, I targeted an
express train which would have more passengers and used
cigarette lighter fluid,” Hattori told police, the Tokyo News
said.

Hattori is still being investigated on suspicion of attempted
murder, the Tokyo metropolitan police department said Monday.

While shooting deaths are rare in Japan, the country has had a
series of high-profile knife killings in recent years.

In 2019, a man carrying two knives attacked a group of
schoolgirls waiting at a bus stop just outside Tokyo, killing
two people and injuring 17 before killing himself. In 2016, a
former employee at a home for the disabled killed 19 people and
injured more than 20.

The August train attack that allegedly inspired Sunday’s spree
came the day before the Tokyo Olympics closing ceremony. A 36-
year-old man stabbed 10 commuters, later telling police that he
wanted to attack women who looked happy.

With Post wires

https://nypost.com/2021/11/01/tokyo-train-attacker-says-he-was- suicidal-after-work-related-problem/

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