TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have re-arrested a 44-year-old man — already under indictment for a brutal hammer attack on a high schooler — for allegedly stealing luxury bags worth 3.4 million yen from a recycle shop, reports TBS News (June 22).
Teruyuki Takabayashi is accused of breaking into the secondhand store in Tachikawa City in February. According to police, he smashed a window at the back entrance after closing time and made off with nine foreign brand-name bags.
Takabayashi is already facing charges of assault resulting in injury. In April, he viciously struck a male high school student in the head with a hammer in Fussa City, inflicting serious injuries before fleeing the scene.
Investigators were able to link the suspect to the burglary after discovering that the getaway vehicle Takabayashi used in the Fussa hammer attack exactly matched the car seen fleeing the Tachikawa shop.
The Metropolitan Police Department is now investigating whether Takabayashi is connected to a broader string of break-ins. Security camera footage captured the same vehicle near the scene of another store theft that took place in Tachikawa in December of last year.
