16-year-old boy struck by arrow dies

Monday 09th November, 05:46 AM JST

TOKYO —

A 16-year-old boy who fell unconscious earlier this month after being struck between the eyebrows with an arrow, shot by a 17-year-old boy from the same high school archery club, died Sunday at a hospital where he had been treated, police said.

Police said they plan to conduct an autopsy on the boy to determine the cause of death, with an eye to possibly laying a charge of gross negligence resulting in death against the 17-year-old boy, who was practicing archery alone with the victim at the time of the accident. The accident occurred Wednesday at a public hall in Tokyo’s Meguro Ward. The 17-year-old boy, who called for an ambulance after shooting the 70-centimeter carbon arrow, has been quoted as saying by police that he accidentally shot the arrow when he aimed it at the 16-year-old boy.

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Latest 15 of 63 Total Comments Show All

Yelnats at 03:56 PM JST - 9th November

if you pull your arrow too far back and it sits behind the bow and you let go, it can fire off sideways at a very fast rate.
bemused at 04:04 PM JST - 9th November

I'm amazed at the utter lack of sympathy for the 17-year-old boy. The two of them were probably just messing around, and then before he knew it he had killed his friend. Boys' teenage years are full of reckless behavior and narrow escapes, and this case was just monumentally unlucky.
Mookoo at 08:51 PM JST - 9th November

70 cm is awfully short for an arrow used in Japanese archery...
nandakandamanda at 09:31 PM JST - 9th November

Japanese archery arrows can of course be made of carbon; they have no standard 'length' per se, ie they are tailor-made for the individual archer to be long enough not to get caught behind the bow with the left arm outstretched, according to a Japanese archer I was talking to on Friday. This is to avoid such sideways accidents. Thus they tend to be longer than Western arrows.
bushlover at 09:48 PM JST - 9th November

[I'm amazed at the utter lack of sympathy for the 17-year-old boy.]

I hope you're kidding.
DenDon at 10:05 PM JST - 9th November

I'm amazed at the utter lack of sympathy for the 17-year-old boy. The two of them were probably just messing around,

don't have children or become a police officer
Mookoo at 11:27 PM JST - 9th November

Yes, the measurement for arrows here is generally from the center of your throat to the tip of your outstretched hand, plus 5-10 cm, sometime plus 15 cm for beginners. Since people's arm span is nearly the same as their height, a person of under 140 cm in height would potentially be using a 70 cm arrow. Most high school boys are around 160-170 cm in height, or taller. So they'd be using arrows of 85 cm and longer.
usaexpat at 11:44 PM JST - 9th November

You never aim a weapon be it a gun or a bow when someone is down range. This most certainly is gross negligence but in a way I feel for the shooter too, how messed up is the rest of his life going to be?
helloklitty at 12:51 AM JST - 10th November

Did he die because he yanked out the arrow? This would allow more blood to be lost, right? He should have rushed to the hospital or nurse's office with the arrow still in his head. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Sapporo77 at 12:45 PM JST - 10th November

He died because the two of them were mucking around like all teens do. The 17 year old boy need help to deal with the pain of losing a friend. The school should be on the hook for this one...imho.
kwilkins21 at 01:25 PM JST - 10th November

I nor should anyone else have any symphathy for this kid. Be it being a teenager or not, it was idiotic! I am a teacher and this is the type of situation we have to deal with everyday because of the ignorant parents not taking responsibility to teach respect of life and others. Playing around or not this kid aimed and shot. Of course he is going to say it was a mistake. The kid is dead and it was only the 2 of them.

Parents need to stop passing there responsibility on teachers to teach their kids right from wrong. We are here to give them an education not discpline.

I have 2 kids and if this were to happen to one of my kids then the 17 year old wouldn't have the chance to make it to court. If my kids were to go against their proper raisings and do something as idiotic as this then I would still love them but give them up. Let the punishment fit the crime. Eye for an eye!

I don' have symphathy for any murderer! Wrong is wrong and there shouldn't be any excuses to not punish the 17 year old.
newjapanese at 01:32 PM JST - 10th November

he accidentally shot the arrow when he aimed it at the 16-year-old boy

Well there was a no brainer of a move.

Archery should be like owning a gun, never point it at anyone/thing unless you plan to shoot it!
kirakira25 at 03:19 PM JST - 10th November

Did he die because he yanked out the arrow? This would allow more blood to be lost, right? He should have rushed to the hospital or nurse's office with the arrow still in his head. Correct me if I'm wrong.

You are not wrong at all, but I believe this was mis-reporting. Someone posted to say they had actually met the family at the hospital the evening that it happened, and no way did the kid pull the arrow out himself - it was still there when he was at the hospital.
grafton at 09:50 PM JST - 11th November

kwilkins21 at 01:25 PM JST - 10th November

“I have 2 kids and if this were to happen to one of my kids then the 17 year old wouldn't have the chance to make it to court. If my kids were to go against their proper raisings and do something as idiotic as this then I would still love them but give them up. Let the punishment fit the crime. Eye for an eye!”

I really cannot imagine that your children are going to be better people having been brought up with such an extremist parent. How can you reason that you would take the life of the 17 year old if he did this to one of your children and then calmly say you would abandon your own child to his or her fate if they committed such a wrong?

Despite the unreasoning and irrational anger that this story seems to have generated here it really needs to be seen for what it is, teenage stupidity leading to a dreadful accident. The 17 year old is not a murderer, an idiot yes, but not a murderer. I feel sad that a boy lost his life and I do commiserate with his family for his loss, but I do not feel any need to damn to hell a stupid boy. Teenagers the world over do stupid things, it is part of growing up and learning about the world, most times they get away with near misses, this one didn’t and in this case I do have some sympathy for the horrible situation he is now in, though I do not forgive him his stupidity. I said on an earlier thread about this accident that I was the victim of a very similar accident when I was a child, my own brother shot me in the eye with an arrow, the distance was much greater and the impact far less so I’m still here (sad for some I’m sure), but it was an accident. So I cannot condemn this 17 year old beyond calling him an idiot. And yes, I’m sure the arrow in my head has caused mental heath problems, but none that I am not very happy with.
mindovermatter at 09:36 AM JST - 14th November

Police said they plan to conduct an autopsy on the boy to determine the cause of death

Huh..... I don't know why this surprises me... Nothing coming from the JCops surprises me anymore...

You don't suppose it was fact that he was struct by an arrow between the eyes that caused his death...Huh...?

Or is there something more to this story than the other kid who admitted accidentally shooting him with the arrow...?