TOKYO — A student suspected of carrying out a hammer attack at a university in Tokyo, which left multiple people hurt, was taken into custody by Japanese police.
After reportedly beating a male student during a class at Hosei University’s Tama campus, which is situated in the western suburbs of Tokyo, on Friday, the 22-year-old South Korean sociology student was arrested on the spot. According to Tokyo Metropolitan Police, the victim suffered minor injuries as a result of the attack.
Seven more pupils were reportedly hurt as well; it is thought that the suspect hit them one after the other. Whether the incident was premeditated is still unknown.
According to Kyodo News, the girl used a hammer she discovered on campus and claimed police she was “frustrated” after being bullied and neglected by her peers.
One witness told Kyodo that the attacker struck those sitting in the back rows of the class, which consisted of about 150 students at the time, seemingly swinging the hammer aimlessly. One witness reported that everyone in the classroom ran away, while another said that the attacker’s face showed no emotion and that she didn’t seem to be aiming at any one person.
Although no other information has been released, the police are still looking into the matter.
Because of the tumultuous history between the two countries—especially the violent colonisation of Korea by Japan, which ended in 1945 with Japan’s defeat in World War II—discrimination against Koreans in Japan still persists.
Although there aren’t many violent crimes in Japan, there have been a few sporadic shootings and stabbings in recent years.
In December, while standing in line at a McDonald’s in Kitakyushu, a city in southwest Japan, a junior high school student was tragically stabbed and her friend was wounded. Later, the assailant was taken into custody.
Three individuals were stabbed outside the University of Tokyo in 2022, including two students who were on their way to entrance tests. After being caught, a 17-year-old student was found guilty of attempted murder.
