NAGANO (TR) – Nagano Prefectural Police suspect that a shooting incident at an office of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi organized crime group in Ueda City on Tuesday is related to an ongoing gang dispute, reports NHK (April 12).
At approximately 3:30 a.m., officers on a routine patrol heard shots fired at the office, located in the Chuo area. The officers subsequently found several bullet holes in a glass window.
At the time of the shooting, several gang members were inside, but there were no reports of injuries.
Police suspect that the shooting is connected to an incident that took place in Ueda last month in which an office of the Yamaguchi-gumi in Ueda was hit by a Molotov cocktail.
Police are viewing both incidents as part of a surge in violence in recent weeks between the Yamaguchi-gumi and the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi.
The Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi formed following the dissolution of the Yamaguchi-gumi last summer. Law enforcement has been on high alert over fears of escalating violence between the two gangs as they battle over turf across the nation.
