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5 yakuza nabbed over Kawasaki shooting that targeted rival boss

Kazuo Tsuchiya of the Sumiyoshi-kai (Twitter)
TOKYO (TR) – Kanagawa Prefectural Police have arrested five members of a criminal syndicate over a shooting in Kawasaki City two years ago that targeted the boss of a rival gang, reports TV Asahi (Jan. 18).

According to police, Kazuo Tsuchiya, the 56-year-old boss of a gang with the Sumiyoshi-kai, worked with the other four suspects in attempting to kill a boss in the Inagawa-kai on January 17, 2019.

At around 8:25 p.m. on that day, a gunman used a pistol to shoot the wife of the Inagawa-kai boss and his driver after they exited a vehicle onto a road in the Oshima area of Kawasaki Ward.

Both persons were conscious when they were rushed to a hospital with wounds to the head and abdomen. Their injuries were not considered life-threatening, the Kawasaki Police Station said at the time.

The vehicle was also carrying the Inagawa-kai boss, who was unharmed.

A boss in the Inagawa-kai was the target of a shooting in Kawasaki City in 2019 (Twitter)

Police arrested Tsuchiya on March 4. The other four suspects, at least one of whom is a member of the Kizuna-kai (an affiliate gang of the Sumiyoshi-kai), were arrested on February 24 and 25.

Police also said that the Sumiyoshi-kai and the Inagawa-kai were not engaged in a dispute at the time, meaning that the motive for the shooting was personal in nature.

Police believe that only one of the five suspects fired the shots. Police are now seeking to confirm the roles of the other suspects in the crime.