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At approximately 7:45 pm on May 30, a 39-year-old man called police to report a neighbourhood dispute. Four police officers responded to the call, unaware that they were walking into a trap.
Hashimoto Yusuke, an unemployed man in Gyoda City, Saitama Prefecture, has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. He called 110, the emergency number for police in Japan, to lure the police to his home. When police arrived at about 8:00 p.m., Hashimoto stabbed an officer in his 40s in his left knee with a kitchen knife. He blasted another officer in the face with insecticide spray.
Hashimoto was subsequently arrested and taken into custody, where he admitted to the charges but gave no explanation for his behavior. The officer who was stabbed reportedly sustained only minor injuries to his knee.
Insecticide might not be the first item that comes to mind when thinking of a weapon, but this isn’t the first time it has been used in an attack this year in Japan.
