Tokyo man dressed as Joker stabs & sprays passengers with hydrochloric acid, injuring up to 17 people along with pouring oil on the train and setting it on fire. Told police he wanted to attack women who looked happy.
A man dressed as Batman villain the Joker has been arrested after allegedly stabbing up to 17 people along with spraying passengers with hydrochloric acid onboard a Tokyo commuter train.
Local reports told of the attacker, a 24 year old man, also pouring what is believed to have been oil around the carriage before lighting it on fire, causing panic among passengers on the Japanese train circa 10pm.
The attack occurred on the Keio express line bound for Shinjuku in central Japan, the world’s busiest rail station. The train was made up of 10 carriages with the attacking occurring circa 10pm, Sunday night.
A man believed to be in his 60s described as one of the victims was unconscious and in critical condition after being stabbed. The man was one of three people seriously injured during the attack according to Kyodo News.
According to local media reports, the un-named suspect allegedly told police he became angry when he saw women who ‘looked happy’ and wanted to kill them.
Cosplayed JOKER stabbed some and set the train carriage on fire, in Halloween #Tokyo #Kokuryo Hope these people are safe.. pic.twitter.com/MuOkIyW3TX
— Its Me (@ItsMe48247000) October 31, 2021
こやつが
京王線の犯人です右手にナイフ
左手にタバコめちゃくちゃ手は震えてたとにかくこいつにむかつきました
すごくみんな必死に逃げて
僕がみんなに窓から出ろ言い死にものぐるいでみんなででてたこいつの前まで来ました本当に許せなかった
殴りたかったです
#京王線#京王線刃物#犯人 pic.twitter.com/fdlLN9nj1Z— 生形たけし (@takahashi9811) October 31, 2021
‘I thought it was a Halloween stunt,’
‘I thought it was a Halloween stunt,’ one witness told local media outlet NHK, recalling the moment he saw other passengers running in a panic towards his train car. ‘Then, I saw a man walking this way, slowly waving a long knife.’
There was blood on the weapon, he said.
Videos uploaded on social media showed a steady stream of people running away from a train car where, seconds later, a blaze lit up.
Another video showed passengers rushing to squeeze out of the train’s windows and onto the platform where the train had made an emergency stop.
Many passengers escaped through train windows after the doors failed to open immediately when the train stopped.
The attacker was arrested on the spot and is being investigated.
Officers were seen entering the train where the suspect sat and did not resist arrest.
A 24 year old man dressed in joker costume stabbed 10 people on a train in Tokyo before spraying acid on passengers and setting the carriage on fire pic.twitter.com/QZ6v9plDsC
— Naija (@Naija_PR) October 31, 2021
Tokyo Joker stabbing- copycat attack?
According to investigative sources the man wore a character outfit, perhaps to coincide with the Halloween celebrations traditionally held at the end of October.
Video on Twitter showed a bespectacled man dressed in a purple suit and bright green shirt, as worn by the Joker, seated in an empty train puffing on a cigarette, his legs crossed and looking calm. He can be seen through the window being surrounded by law enforcement in a subsequent clip.
Sunday’s attack is the second attack involving a knife on a Tokyo train in two months.
Another attack happened in August, the day before the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics.
A 36-year-old man stabbed 10 passengers on a commuter train in Tokyo in a random burst of violence.
He later told police that he wanted to attack women who looked happy.
Also in August, two people were injured after a man sprayed another man with sulfuric acid at a subway station in Tokyo.
While shooting deaths are rare in Japan, the country has had a series of high-profile knife killings in recent years.
In 2019, a man carrying two knives attacked a group of schoolgirls waiting at a bus stop just outside Tokyo, killing two people and injuring 17 before killing himself. In 2018, a man killed a passenger and injuring two others in a knife attack on a bullet train. In 2016, a former employee at a home for the disabled killed 19 people and injured more than 20.
No known motive for Sunday’s attack was immediately known.
