CHIBA (TR) – Chiba Prefectural Police have arrested a second suspect in connection with the fatal beating of a man last week, reports TBS News (Sept. 8).
At just past noon on Monday, Toshifumi Watabe, 42, of no known occupation, surrendered at the Chiba-Higashi Police Station.
Early on September 3, Watabe and Daiki Tanaka, 36, dropped off a third man — later identified as Tomohiro Shimamura, 32 — at Chiba Central Medical Center in Chiba City.
Shimamura, who had been beaten over his entire body, was confirmed dead about 20 minutes later, the police said previously.
Upon his arrest on suspicion of abandoning a corpse, Watabe denied the allegations. “When [we] dropped off Shimamura-san at the hospital, I asked that he receive medical help,” the suspect said.
“Unconscious and not breathing”
Later on September 3, Tanaka, an employee in the construction industry, surrendered at a police station in Saitama Prefecture.
The next day, he was also accused of abandoning a corpse. “After assaulting him, we left him unconscious and not breathing,” the suspect was quoted by police in admitting to the allegations.
The suspects were not acquainted with the victim. Prior to the incident, they abducted Shimamura in the parking lot for a bar in Yashio City, Saitama at around 1:20 a.m. on September 3.
According to a previous report, when they asked Shimamura his name, he replied, “Shimamura.” However, they were looking for someone of another name. “We thought he was lying,” Tanaka told police.
According to Tanaka, they then beat Shimamura. “We assaulted him, but
he was the wrong guy,” he was quoted by police. They later dropped him off at the hospital, a distance of 40 kilometers from the parking lot, before fleeing.
