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Wakayama cops: Shooting suspect tests positive for drugs

Yasuhide Mizobata
Yasuhide Mizobata

WAKAYAMA (TR) – A shooting suspect who committed suicide during a stand off with police last week had been using illegal drugs, investigative sources with the Wakayama Prefectural Police have revealed, reports TBS News (Sept. 6).

The results of an analysis of blood and urine from the body of Yasuhide Mizobata, who committed suicide on August 30 with a single gunshot, revealed the presence of stimulant drugs. He is suspected of using the illegal substances within the last two weeks.

Mizohata, 45, is believed to have been the gunman who opened fire inside the office of Wadai Kogyo just before 9:00 a.m. on August 29. Four employees of the firm, aged between 43 and 46, were struck by bullets in the incident, with one later confirmed dead at a nearby hospital. The gunman fled the scene.

On the following evening, Mizobata is alleged to have fired four rounds at officers at a location near the office, shattering a glass window of a squad car. After he fled the scene on foot, the suspect was found again the following morning on the second floor of a nearby apartment building. He then fired a single round at police.

For more than 17 hours, Mizobata barricaded himself inside the building with two guns, which he waved at officers as they attempted to negotiate his surrender. On Wednesday evening, the siege ended after the suspect shot himself in the stomach. He was later confirmed dead at a hospital.