TOKYO (TR) – A 36-year-old officer found shot at a police station in Shibuya Ward on Wednesday later died in what is being treated as a suicide. The officer was on duty during the car-ramming incident the day before, police said on Thursday, reports Jiji Press (Jan. 3).
At around 10:05 p.m. on Wednesday, Kazuo Nakano, an assistant inspector in the traffic division at the Harajuku Police Station, was found shot by a single bullet to the head in a basement storage room.
The officer was taken to hospital where he later confirmed dead.
On the day of the day of the discovery, Nakano started a shift at 8:30 a.m. His whereabouts became unknown at around 9:30 p.m., police said.
When the body was found, a pistol was dropped near his right hand. The storage room was locked, and no suicide note has been found, police said.
Early on January 1, Nakano was among the first-responders after a 21-year-old man drove his rental car into a crowd of persons celebrating the New Year on Takeshita-dori. The incident left 8 persons injured.
