HOKKAIDO (TR) – It has been more than one week since a fire broke out at a specialty bar in the Susukino red-light district of Sapporo City.
The blaze left two male customers and a female employee in her 20s seriously injured. A 41-year-old man remains unconscious.
Hokkaido Prefectural Police are continuing their investigation, believing that the 41-year-old man set the bar on fire with something like gasoline.
In the latest development, it has been learned that the arson suspect had been in a relationship with one of the hostesses at the bar, reports Fuji News Network (Dec. 3).
“Entered the store dressed as a worker”
At around 3:20 p.m. on November 26, an explosion ripped through the second-floor establishment, known as a “girl’s bar,” which is essentially a hostess club. A witness later recalled at least two girls in costumes coming out of the building with their clothes on fire.
“I asked a nearby convenience store if they could give me some water, and they gave me a bucket,” said a woman who helped douse the flames on their clothes.
Glass was blown apart and scattered, and the inside the establishment was left charred black.
“It seems that [the suspect] entered the store dressed as a worker,” a representative of the girls’ bar said, “with his hat pulled down low. He had a bucket in his hand and entered.”
First, he poured a different liquid that was not in the bucket at the entrance. It is thought to be some kind of flammable liquid, and it may have been to spread the fire in an attempt to block an escape route.
He then went silently to the back of the store. At this time, one female employee, dressed as a bunny girl, two other female employees and two customers were sitting at the counter.
After the man poured a liquid that appeared to be gasoline from the bucket on the floor near the counter, a female employee asked, “What’s wrong?” He did not respond.
Realizing the suspicious situation, the employee in the bunny girl outfit and the other female employee jumped over the counter to escape. Immediately afterwards, the man set fire to the bar with a lighter.
“She was scared and couldn’t be with him”
Police later found a portable container believed to have been carrying a gasoline-like liquid was found in his car. Police believe the man transferred the liquid from the container to a bucket and carried it to the girls’ bar before committing the crime.
The source of the incident appears to be a soured relationship between the 41-year-old man and the seriously injured female employee.
The female employee had been living with him. However, on November 7, she consulted the police. “We had an argument about breaking up. My boyfriend got violent,” she said.
She also consulted with her superiors at work about her troubles with the man.
“He was violent, going crazy. She was scared and couldn’t be with him. She wanted out of there,” the same representative from the bar says.
Police apparently warned the man not to aggressively meet the female employee. However, the man only said, “I’m sorry.” He then continued to show up at the woman’s new residence.
“Entered the store dressed as a worker
The man also developed an obsession with seeing her. On the chat app Line, he wrote the text “I want to see you” dozens of times.
“I had only just talked to him about a week ago,” the same representative said. “[At the time of fire], I thought maybe it was him. I really want to hear more about why he did this, why he came at that time, and why he targeted that place.”
The female employee was nearby when the man started the fire and suffered burns all over her body. She is still in the hospital.
She reportedly told her superiors that she “cannot forgive” him.
