Police in Japan confirmed on Friday (May 26th) that they had arrested a madman suspected of killing four people, including two police officers, in a knife and gun attack in a semi-rural area of central Nagano Prefecture.

The suspect, who had been holed up inside a house with a farm in Nakano (northeast of Nagano city) on Thursday, was arrested at around 4:30 a.m. (19:30 GMT on Thursday), a local police spokesman told AFP.

A woman who was injured but could not be rescued succumbed to her injuries, bringing the death toll to four, the spokesman added. On Thursday afternoon, another woman was stabbed in the back by the suspect, who would be in his thirties.

The madman then shot and killed two policemen who had just arrived on the scene, before taking refuge in the house that belonged to his father, who would be a local elected official of Nakano, according to the Kyodo News Agency.

Local police said overnight that two women were able to leave the building before the suspect was arrested: one around 20:35 p.m. (11:35 GMT) and the other shortly after midnight. One of them was the suspect's own mother, according to Kyodo.

"Help me"

"I was working on a farm when just after 16 p.m. a woman ran from the road saying 'help me' and then she fell," a witness told public broadcaster NHK on Thursday. "Behind her was a man in camouflage with a long knife, who stabbed her in the back," he added. The 72-year-old witness said he then called for help, and neighbors tried to revive the victim by performing a heart massage, to no avail.

According to NHK citing the police, the madman then fired a shotgun at police officers who had just arrived on the scene. The police were inside their vehicle, and the madman allegedly placed his gun against a window and fired twice, according to NHK. Residents of the surrounding area had been called by local authorities to self-isolate.

Intentional homicide is very rare in Japan, where the carrying of firearms is highly regulated. But Japan was rocked last year by the murder of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was killed with a homemade firearm while delivering a campaign speech in the western city of Nara.

And last month, a young man was arrested after throwing an improvised explosive device at incumbent Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who was traveling to a small fishing port in the western department of Wakayama. Fumio Kishida escaped unscathed.

With AFP

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