A suspected gunman has taken people hostage at a post office in Japan following a possibly related shooting at a nearby hospital.
Armored police officers surrounded the three-storey building in the town of Warabi as night fell after the gunman took an unknown number of hostages.
Authorities in the city of Warabi, on Japan’s southeastern coast, said today: ‘Today at approximately 2:15 PM (local time), an individual took hostages and barricaded themselves in a post office in the Chuo 5-chome district of Warabi city. … The perpetrator is in possession of what appears to be a gun.”
The as-yet-unnamed gunman is believed to be in his 80s and was seen wearing a baseball cap and white shirt under a dark jacket, with what appeared to be a handgun on a lanyard around his neck.
Local media reported that at least two female postal workers, aged between 20 and 30, were taken. A Japanese daily reported that the shooter may have as many as ten people with him.
Police surrounded the post office in the city of Warabi, Japan, today after a gunman took several people hostage
Police still surrounded the building as night fell in the town of Warabi, hours after at least two people were taken hostage by an unnamed gunman.
Several police officers wearing heavy body armor and shields were seen outside the post office in Warabi town
The shooter may also carry paraffin or kerosene, both of which can be used to quickly start large fires.
The hostage situation occurred shortly after two people were injured in a shooting at a hospital just a mile away. The two incidents are believed to be related.
A doctor in his 40s and a patient in his 60s were slightly injured after shots were apparently fired from the street into a ground-floor room at a general hospital.
“After 1 p.m. I heard a woman shouting, ‘Someone please come,’ and a nurse said to me, ‘Stay away from the windows and keep your head down,'” said a man in his 60s who was in the hospital against the broadcaster NHK. .
‘Around 2pm I looked into the consultation room and saw a pool of blood next to an examination table. I didn’t hear a shot. But a nurse said she heard two gunshots,” the man added.
The hostage situation is believed to be related to a shooting at a nearby hospital
It is currently unknown how many people were taken hostage. So far it has been confirmed that two people were taken, but Japanese media reported that there could be as many as ten people in the building
None of the victims’ wounds were life-threatening and they are both reportedly conscious.
The shooter is said to have fled on a motorcycle.
Violent crime, especially incidents involving firearms, is rare in Japan, but in recent years there has been growing concern about handmade weapons.
According to the National Police Agency, there were only nine shooting incidents last year, six of which were related to criminal gangs.
Those incidents resulted in four fatalities, including the killing of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by a man with a homemade gun at a campaign rally in July 2022.
In April, a man was arrested for allegedly throwing an explosive device at Prime Minister Fumio Kishida while campaigning in the city of Wakayama. Kishida was unharmed.
The following month, a man holed up in a building after allegedly killing four people, including two police officers and an elderly woman, in an attack with a gun and a knife.
Masanori Aoki, 31, was taken into custody at his home near the town of Nakano, police said at the time.