Crime Jun. 10, 2008 - 05:00AM JST ( 121 )

TOKYO —

The suspect in Sunday’s stabbing spree that left seven people dead and 10 others injured has told investigators that he decided several days before to stage the attack at the Akihabara electronics district in central Tokyo.
   
‘‘I got tired of my life. I’ve visited Akihabara several times. I know that there are many people there,’’ suspect Tomohiro Kato, 25, was quoted as saying.
   
Kato has also told the investigators that he went to Akihabara to kill people.
   
Investigations showed that Kato made a reservation Saturday to rent a truck which he used in the attack the following day.
   
At that time, Kato told the rental company that he was moving to a new residence and needed a large truck to transport enough for three people, police sources said.
   
Kato was arrested Sunday on suspicion of attempted murder for allegedly stabbing a 24-year-old woman in the back on a street near JR Akihabara Station at around 12:30 p.m. Sunday. The woman suffered from serious injuries. So far, he hasn’t been charged with murder.

The police sources said Kato’s remarks and acts indicate that he committed the crime in a premeditated manner with a clear intention to kill.
   
In the deadly rampage, seven people died after being hit by a truck or having been stabbed, and 10 others were injured.
   
The suspect has been found to have possessed a clasp knife on top of the 13-centimeter one he used in the stabbing spree, the police sources said.
   
Kato was arrested on the spot after being overpowered by police officers at the scene.
   
Meanwhile, a series of message postings on a mobile phone bulletin board foretold the deadly rampage, according to the investigations.
   
Kato has told the investigators that he had given warnings of his actions in postings on a cell phone bulletin board.
   
The posts were apparently put up from early morning until just minutes before the stabbing spree on Sunday. The descriptions in the posts as well as the time-stamps follow the developments closely.
   
The Tokyo police said they are investigating whether the posts were made by Kato, a temporary worker and a resident of Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture.
   
The series of message postings in a thread entitled ‘‘I will kill people in Akihabara’’ started with a post time-stamped at 5:21 a.m. Sunday and read, ‘‘I want to crash the vehicle and, if it that doesn’t work, I will then use a knife. Goodbye, everyone.’’ It was followed by another post, among others, that read, ‘‘Getting caught while I’m carrying out my mission will perhaps be the worst outcome.’‘
   
A 6:31 a.m. message said, ‘‘It’s time. I’m off.’‘
   
A 7:47 a.m. post said, ‘‘No postponement because of rainy weather.’’ It was said to be drizzling Sunday morning in Susono and areas around the city.
   
A 9:48 a.m. post said, ‘‘Rest after entering Kanagawa.’’ Kanagawa Prefecture is on the way from Shizuoka to Tokyo.
   
Subsequent posts include ‘‘Just arrived in Akihabara’’ and at 11:45 a.m., a post said, ‘‘Today, it’s a ‘pedestrians’ paradise,’ isn’t it?’’ in reference to Sunday being a vehicle-free day for pedestrians on a busy street.
   
A post made 10 minutes past midday said, ‘‘It’s time.’’ Kato is alleged to have started engaging in the deadly acts of running over and stabbing people on the street at around 12:30 p.m. The police said Monday that the weapon used was a dagger knife, rather than a survival knife as they had said the previous day.
   
Kato rented a 2-ton truck at a rental car shop in Numazu, also Shizuoka Prefecture, at around 8 a.m. and drove to Tokyo via the Tomei (Tokyo-Nagoya) Expressway through an interchange in Susono. Numazu is about 120 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, while Susono is some 10 km northeast of Numazu.
   
He allegedly drove the truck into the car-free street near Akihabara Station, hit several people on the street and stabbed many with a highly destructive, double-edged knife.
   
Akihabara is known for a cluster of electronics shops and as a magnet for video game, manga comic and animation fans. Kato reportedly had a strong interest in comic-book and video-game subculture. In a school yearbook in which graduating students were asked to describe their personalities, Kato enclosed a picture of an action hero and simply wrote the word “crooked” in English, reports said.
   
On Monday, many people with flowers and other offerings showed up at the site of the incident in Akihabara to pray for the souls of those who had been killed.
   
A 20-year-old company employee from Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, who was on business in Tokyo and happened to be near the site around an hour before it took place, offered a bottle of water.
   
‘‘I could have been stabbed as well if I had just made one wrong move,’’ he said. ‘‘I came to mourn for those people who had to die.’‘

A spokesman for Kanto Auto Works, the company to which Kato was dispatched from a temping agency in November, said Monday that he had been working normally until going missing on Friday.

“We’ve been told that his attitude at work was very good and that he didn’t stir any problems in the workplace,” said company spokesman Naoyuki Hashimoto.

Residents of Kato’s hometown interviewed by Nippon Television said that he did well at school. “He was good both at studying and sports. He was respected in the classroom,” one woman said.

Wire reports