FUKUSHIMA (TR) – Fukushima Prefectural Police suspect that a man fatally stabbed four members of a family before attempting to take his own life in Iwaki City early Wednesday, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (Jan. 22).
At around 1:30 a.m., police received a distress call from a man who claimed to have “stabbed a person.”
Officers arriving at arrived at a parking lot at Mizuishiyama Park, located in the Miwamachi Godo, found five persons inside a van.
A woman, aged in her 40s, and three children, one boy (15) and two girls (both 13), had stab wounds to the neck. They were confirmed dead at the scene, the Iwaki-Chuo Police Station said.
A man in his 50s was seated in the driver’s seat stab wounds to the neck and abdomen, he told police that he stabbed the other four persons and himself.
“I am in a relationship with the woman,” he reportedly said, according to the Asahi Shimbun (Jan. 22). “I also want to die.”
He was transported to a hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening, police said.
In addition to finding a large amount of blood inside the vehicle, police also discovered two knives.
Police are continuing the investigation on suspicion of murder.