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2 shootings, 1 explosion rattle Yamanashi; yakuza involvement suspected

Emblem of the Yamanashi Kyoyu-kai, which is based in Kofu City
Emblem of the Yamanashi Kyoyu-kai, which is based in Kofu City
YAMANASHI (TR) – In what Yamanashi Prefectural Police suspect is related to an ongoing conflict between organized crime groups, multiple gun shots and an explosion shook three parts of the prefecture on Saturday, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (Aug. 18).

At around 2:10 a.m., police received a report of discharges from a gun in a neighborhood in Chuo City. Officers from the Minami Chofu Police Station later discovered multiple bullet holes in the exterior of a residence occupied by a member of the Yamanashi-ikka, an affiliate gang to the Inagawa-kai.

Five minutes later, an incendiary device was detonated in front of the entrance to an apartment building in Kofu City. Officers later discovered a burn mark on a wall measuring between two and three meters. An organized crime member formerly lived in the building.

At 8:10 a.m., police received a tip in which the caller reported hearing “something that sounded like fireworks” in Fuefuki City. Investigators arriving at the scene discovered bullet holes in the window of an office of a political organization affiliated with the Yamanashi-ikka and in the exterior of a car parked in a nearby lot.

No injuries were reported in any of the three incidents.

Law enforcement is treating the incidents as violations of the Swords and Firearms Control Law and Criminal Regulations to Control Explosives.

Police are attempting to confirm whether the incidents are connected to a gangland war between the Yamanashi-ikka and the Yamanashi Kyoyu-kai organized crime group.

Since an upper member of the Yamanashi Kyoyu-kai, headquartered in Kofu, was seriously injured after being shot in the riverbed of the Arakawa River last November, multiple shooting incidents and one suicide involving the gangs have taken place.