TOKYO — Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested a 66-year-old unemployed man in Nishitokyo City after he stabbed a rent collector who had asked him to vacate his apartment on Monday, reports TV Asahi (Sep. 8).
At around 5:30 p.m. , an employee of a rent guarantee company, a man in his 40s, visited the Nishitokyo City apartment of Katsuji Kondo to urge him to move out. Kondo had fallen behind on his rent, accumulating a debt of approximately 160,000 yen.
According to police, the encounter quickly turned violent. Kondo is accused of attacking the employee with a survival knife and a kitchen knife. Both blood-stained weapons were later recovered at the scene.
Kondo was arrested on the spot on suspicion of attempted murder and has admitted to the allegations.
“I tried to negotiate with him, asking to pay in installments or to postpone the payment, but he wouldn’t accept it,” Kondo told investigators. “I lost control of my emotions and stabbed him.”
The grisly aftermath left local residents in a state of shock. One witness described the victim’s gruesome condition, saying, “His dress shirt was so red [with blood] that I thought he was just wearing a red shirt.”
Another neighbor added, “He was collapsed outside. It’s terrifying to have something like this happen so close by.”
The victim sustained severe wounds that are expected to take six months to fully heal. Tokyo police are continuing to investigate the detailed circumstances surrounding the attack.
