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Yakuza shot and killed at Nagano onsen

A member of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi was shot in the head inside a parking lot of the Yu-Min hot springs resort
A member of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi was shot in the head inside a parking lot of the Yu-Min hot springs resort

NAGANO (TR) – Nagano Prefectural Police announced on Wednesday that a member of a newly formed organized crime group who had been shot at a hot springs resort in Iida City has died, reports TV Asahi (Oct. 7).

At approximately 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday, an unknown assailant used a pistol to shoot Yoichi Hasegawa, 43, in the head inside a parking lot of the Yu-Min onsen resort. The victim was transported to a nearby hospital where he died at 7:00 a.m. the following day.

A woman who heard the gunshot turned around and found a semi-conscious Hasegawa collapsed on the ground, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun (Oct. 7). She then called emergency services.

According to police, who have launched a murder investigation, Hasegawa is a member of a gang affiliated with the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, a criminal organization that formed last month in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Yamaguchi-gumi, which is Japan’s largest organized crime group.

With the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi being a rival to the Yamaguchi-gumi, police suspect that the shooting incident is connected to trouble that may have developed as a result of the split.