Man Who Randomly Stabbed People in Japan Train Had Regretted Not Killing Anyone in Attack

By
Shawn Ambrose
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Last Sunday (31 Oct), a man entered a train in Tokyo, Japan, dressed up as The Joker.

Given that it was Halloween, commuters likely assumed that he was on his way to a party.

Hours later, the man was arrested for attacking 17 passengers and setting fire to a carriage.

While many of us would feel guilty and apologise after such an attack, the man instead regrets not being able to kill anyone.

Man Who Randomly Stabbed People in Japan Train Had Regretted Not Killing Anyone in Attack

Speaking to investigators, the man, identified as 24-year-old Kyota Hattori, said he wanted to kill people so he could get the death penalty.

It’s presumably for this reason that he said he regretted his failure to kill his targets.

Unsurprisingly, the man said he adores The Joker, a popular Batman villain popularised by films and comics. In the 2019 movie Joker starring Joaquin Phoneix, Joker attacks and kills three men on a train with a gun.

One Victim in Critical Condition After Lung Pierced

It turns out that the man had only used the knife on one commuter – a 72-year-old man.

Hattori sprayed pesticide into the man’s eye before stabbing him in the chest with a knife. The knife, approximately 30-centimetre long, pierced the man’s lung. He sustained serious injuries from the attack and is still in critical condition.

Hattori then set fire to one of the train’s carriages after pouring lighter fluid all over the seats.

The 16 others who were injured in the attack suffered minor injuries for the most part, including smoke inhalation.

Videos Show Panicked Passengers Running Away From Attacker

Videos of the attack have since made their way online, one of which shows passengers running frantically away from the attacker as well as a fire erupting in one of the train’s carriages.

Some desperate passengers even tried to escape through the train’s windows after it had come to a stop without its doors opening.

A video of the attacker himself was uploaded to social media, showing a man dressed in a purple suit with a green shirt – the colours of the Joker –  sitting down calmly in the train while smoking a cigarette.

Planned the Attack in June After Quitting Job

Reuters reported that Hattori may have planned the attack as early as June this year, when he quit his job and moved to several different major cities before reaching Tokyo last month. He told investigators that “things weren’t going well with work and friends” at that time.

He chose to carry out his attack on Halloween as he knew the city would be crowded that day.

Hattori first took a train away from the city but then changed to another heading back as it was more crowded. It was there that he started attacking people.

The 24-year-old reportedly purchased the knife he used online and was carrying around four litres of lighter fluid in plastic bottles when he headed into Tokyo.

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]