OSAKA (TR) – In a video posted by Mainichi Broadasting System (Apr. 30), a man stands on a street in Toyonaka City holding a bloody knife in his left hand as he yells at a police car. “Come on! Someone’s going to die!” he shouts. “I’m going to be the murderer.”
The time is just before 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday. A bar owner, aged in his 20s, had just been stabbed to death outside a nearby apartment complex in Shibaharacho, the result of an apparent dispute over an unpaid bar tab.
The man with the knife is 52-year-old Takahiro Sugimoto. Police arrested him on suspicion of violating the Swords and Firearms Control Law.
Upon his arrest, Sugimoto’s clothes were covered in blood. He made a statement to the effect that he had “stabbed someone at home.”
“Payment for meals and drinks”
Sugimoto lives in the apartment complex. At around 12:30 a.m., the bar owner and a male colleague, aged in his 40s, visited the residence. According to the colleague, the suspect emerged from the residence and slashed the bar owner in the face.
Emergency personnel arriving at the scene found the bar owner collapsed and bleeding. He was later confirmed dead, police said.
The colleague explained to police that he worked for the deceased man at the bar in Osaka City. He said, “I came to Sugimoto’s house to ask for payment for meals and drinks.”
Police are currently investigating the circumstances that led to the incident.
