HYOGO (TR) – The boss of a gang connected to the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi is among the two persons shot and wounded in Amagasaki City on Tuesday, investigative sources have revealed, reports Mainichi Broadcasting System (Nov. 4).
According to the sources, two gunmen opened fire at Yoshihiro Oyadomari, the 64-year-old boss of the Furukawa-gumi, and a 61-year-old fellow gang member in front of a FamilyMart convenience store at around 11:35 a.m.
Oyadomari was struck in the left hand. The other gangster was shot in the buttocks. Neither victim is in a life-threatening condition, police said previously.
“Some guys I didn’t know stopped us while we were out walking. They then opened fire,” Oyadomari was quoted by the Amagasaki-Minami Police Station.
According to a witness, the gunmen are both aged around their 40s. They fled the scene in a van parked nearby after the incident.
In footage shot by a camera mounted on the dashboard of a taxi, the suspected perpetrators are shown running from the general area of the convenience store.
One man, wearing a white shirt, dark jacket and dark pants, jogs past the taxi first. The other, attired in a gray top and blue jeans, then follows.
Police are seeking their whereabouts on suspicion of attempted murder.
Yakuza dispute
The shooting is just the latest incident involving the Yamaguchi-gumi and Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi. The gangs have been engaged in a dispute since the Kobe Yamaguchi formed as a rival to the Yamaguchi-gumi in 2015.
In November of last year, a Yamaguchi-gumi member fatally shot Keiichi Furukawa, then the boss of the Furukawa-gumi, on a street in Amagasaki.
The month before, a member of the Kodo-kai, an affiliate of the Yamaguchi-gumi, shot and killed two Yamaken-gumi gangsters in Kobe City. The latter gang is also an affiliate of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi.
