FUKUOKA (TR) – A male guest at a business hotel in Hakata Ward has died in a fall from a room window in an apparent suicide after he took two female employees hostage, police said, reports TV Asahi (Jan. 18).
At around 7:40 a.m. on Wednesday, the man, 33, leaped from the window of his room on the seventh floor of the R&B Hotel Hakata Ekimae to the street fronting the property. After being rushed to a nearby hospital in a state of cardiac arrest, he was later confirmed dead.
About one hour before, an employee of the hotel alerted the Hakata Police Station after two female staff members did not return from subsequent visits to the room to assist the man.
Police officers arriving at the scene determined that the man had taken the employees hostage by threatening them with a stun gun — later found inside the room — and commenced negotiations for their release, according to Nippon News Network (Jan. 18).
However, they later broke into the room after discussions stalled. The man then intentionally took his life by leaping from the window, police.
One of the female staff members suffered a broken nose after being hit by the man.
The man arrived at the hotel three days before the incident. He was scheduled to check out on Wednesday.
