65-year-old man arrested after stabbing rampage in Saitama

Friday 29th May, 09:06 AM JST

SAITAMA —

A 65-year-old man was arrested for attempted murder on Thursday, accused of stabbing three people, one of whom later died, at a property in Yoshikawa City on Thursday morning.

Saitama police said they received a call just before 10 a.m. from a man, saying that people had been stabbed. Upon arriving at the property, they found a man and a woman in their 60s and a man in his 50s bleeding. All three were taken to hospital, but the woman was later pronounced dead. One of the men was seriously injured but was in stable condition and the other man, who made the call to police, was not seriously injured.

Seiji Shimizu was arrested at the scene for attempted murder and police said they will upgrade one of the charges to murder. Shimizu has admitted to stabbing the trio and said there had been some money problems.

Shimizu, owner of the property which consists of a house and an outhouse, leased the main house to a construction business which used it as accommodation for five of its employees, including the man who made the call to police on Thursday morning. Shimizu had been living with the woman on the second floor of the outhouse for the past five years. The other man, a former employee of the construction business, had moved out of the main house and started living in the outhouse a few days ago, police said.

Police said Shimizu was taken to hospital the day before the incident on Wednesday morning, after one of the residents called for an ambulance, saying that Shimizu was agitated and shaking. Shimizu was sent home after receiving a clean bill of health.

News reports

› Login to comment

Latest 15 of 24 Total Comments Show All

Disillusioned at 11:13 AM JST - 29th May

just so many more oldies in Japan so statistically they predominate in crime stats

Sorry, gotta disagree with this. In most other countries the majority of crimes are committed by people in their teens, twenties and thirties. The oldies are usually the victims, not the perpetrators. There is something odd with most Japanese senior citizens.
Mittsu at 11:56 AM JST - 29th May

Remeber the sage words of Homer Simpson (or maybe Bart). "Old people are no good at anything" Except stabbing, maybe.
FryingMonkey at 12:52 PM JST - 29th May

It's a grandma stabbin' good time! Time to put the old horse down if ya ask me, you had a good run Shimizu but your time is done.
Orchid64 at 01:24 PM JST - 29th May

This is really sad and seems to be another in a trend in Japan these days where angry, frustrated and possibly mentally ill senior citizens are committing crimes. This is a social problem that Japan is going to have to address in a more proactive and constructive manner than simply locking up the perpetrators after the fact.

For starters, they really need to raise the retirement agent to 70 or remove mandatory or conditional retirement at 60. Right now, people who work in salaried positions are told that their choice is the door, or to quit and be rehired at 50% of their previous salary. Such people have little purpose in life and their lives become small and centered around mundane activities and local happenings. It's no wonder they may grow agitated with small problems with neighbors or other problems and blow up. They lose touch with the greater reality.
notimpressed at 01:56 PM JST - 29th May

This hardly warrants being called rampage. More like 'multiple stabbings'.

If anything, this whole country seems to be in the grip of a stabbing rampage.
dennis0bauer at 03:06 PM JST - 29th May

saitama again. it seems the anger raises together with the summer temperature
bamboohat at 04:11 PM JST - 29th May

When a Japanese becomes agitated and shaking you know something is going to happen

Thanks for the advice. I'll watch my back.
GW at 09:16 PM JST - 29th May

wow, I drove there & back from Saitama today, glad I got out alive, with all these people living in outhouses no wonder its become the J-crime-capital
nigelboy at 11:06 PM JST - 29th May

Nearly all of the serious crimes reported are committed by people over 60. The wacko generation!

Well it's probably "reported" because it was committed by people over 60.
usaexpat at 12:15 AM JST - 30th May

More nutters on the loose, some people are just a tick away from snapping and when they do watch out.
boboh at 12:20 AM JST - 30th May

This idiot has more than money problems now.
30061015 at 12:50 AM JST - 30th May

An agitated shaking second story outhouse dweller with a knife

Living with an outhouse woman five years who wasn't his wife

Some money problems made him stab the trio he said

But only the woman was later pronounced dead
bushlover at 10:21 AM JST - 30th May

Money problems on top of living in an outhouse could really be a cr@ppy situation.
martyman at 01:48 PM JST - 31st May

Maybe the J-cops should use this incident as a lessons learned for future crimes in Saitama. If doctors have a patient that shows signs of being agitated and shaking, they should notify the police immediately.
vultor at 11:12 AM JST - 2nd June

A two story outhouse? Bad news for the person sitting under.