Joker Train Attacker Says He Was Suicidal After He ‘Messed Up At Work’
A man who stabbed one person and injured more than a dozen more by setting a Tokyo subway train carriage on fire while dressed as the Joker told police he ‘wanted to die’, after experiencing difficulties at work and in his personal life.
The man, who has been named by Tokyo police as 24-year-old Kyota Hattori, was arrested on Sunday, October 31, on suspicion of attempted murder after a 72-year-old man was stabbed in the chest and sprayed in the face with pesticide. 16 other passengers were reportedly treated for minor injuries and smoke inhalation after he moved to another carriage and set it on fire by dousing the seats with lighter fluid.
In a now-viral social media video Hattori could be seen waiting calmly for police while smoking a cigarette as passengers fled through the windows of the train. Following his arrest Hattori reportedly confessed, claiming he’d intended to kill at least two people in his attack in the hopes that he’d receive the death penalty.
‘I messed up at work around June and wasn’t getting along with friends,’ Hattori said, per Japan News. ‘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.’
Metropolitan Police Department officials further revealed Hattori had claimed to have been inspired by another recent Japanese train attack, in which 10 people were stabbed and the culprit allegedly unsuccessfully tried to set the carriage on fire using cooking oil.
‘I noticed that cooking oil doesn’t burn well, so I used lighter fluid that I put in a 2-liter plastic bottle,’ he said.
Sunday’s attack occurred on a 10-carriage express train near Fuda Station in Chofu, Tokyo. The investigation is still ongoing, with Japan’s transport ministry today, November 1, issuing new guidance for ‘increased vigilance’ on the country’s public transport network.
News Credit: www.unilad.co.uk
