At least 17 people have been injured in a knife attack perpetrated by an individual in a train carriage in Japan’s capital, Tokyo, which he then set on fire, police sources told the official Japanese news agency Kyodo.
A man in a Joker costume injures 17 people on the Tokyo subway on their way to celebrate Halloween
The attacker stabbed one of the passengers, a 70-year-old man who is hospitalized in serious condition after being stabbed in the chest. He then spread a flammable liquid and set fire. Most of the injured appear to have been affected by the inhalation of toxic fumes and are of a minor nature.
The incident occurred at around 8 p.m. on Sunday, when crowds of people were heading to the city center to celebrate Halloween.
The attack caused panic among the passengers and videos posted on social networks show people rushing out of the emergency windows after the train stopped at Kokuryo station and the doors did not open immediately.
京王線火災で逃げる人々 pic.twitter.com/ZfN1pD0C2V
— しずくβ (@siz33) October 31, 2021
Police later confirmed the arrest of a 24-year-old man identified as Kyota Hattori armed with a knife who appeared to spread gasoline around the carriage before setting it on fire.
According to witnesses, the man was wearing a purple suit with a green shirt, similar to that worn by the Joker, a well-known fictional villain.
The young man was arrested without resistance, according to the authorities, and has explained that “he wanted to kill people and be county to death”. That is why he wanted to kill two or more people. He also confessed to having spread lighter fluid to start the fire.
One of the passengers has related that he saw the bloody knife and thought it was a Halloween costume.
🚨 | NEW: The alleged attacker in Japan, in a “Joker” costume. Sitting and casually smoking after stabbing and spraying hydrochloric acid on passengers on a train in Tokyo, and then setting everything on fire
— News For All (@NewsForAllUK) October 31, 2021
