Police arrested a 80-year-old SDF officer on suspicion of murder on the 10th in an incident in which a man in his 21s was stabbed to death in an apartment building in Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto City this month. In response to the police investigation, he admitted to the charges, saying, "It could have been anyone."
The arrested suspect is Chisho Mizushima (21), a Self-Defense Force officer who works at the Ground Self-Defense Force's Kaien Detachment in Seika-cho, Kyoto Prefecture.
According to the police, on the 3rd of this month, he was suspected of murder for killing Kojiro Okada (82), who lives here, by stabbing him multiple times in the back with a knife-like object on the stairs of an apartment building in Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto City.
In response to the police investigation, he admitted to the charges, saying, "I didn't know the victim, it could have been anyone."
The police proceeded with the investigation by following the footage of security cameras in the area, and on the 10th, they secured the place where they came out of the accommodation in Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo.
At that time, a kitchen knife with a blade length of more than 1 centimeters was found in the rucksack he was carrying, and the police believe that it was the murder weapon used in the incident based on the condition of Mr. Okada's wound.
On the 4th of this month, the day after the incident, a member of the Self-Defense Forces where the suspect Mizushima works reported him missing to the police, saying, "I have not been missing since I went out the day before."
Regarding the arrest of the SDF officers, Lieutenant General Kuniharu Hirano, commander of the Ground Self-Defense Force's Uji Garrison, commented, "If it is true that a member of the SDF caused such an incident, it is truly regrettable, and we will cooperate with the police investigation to the fullest."