OSAKA, Japan. A 28-year-old man was arrested Thursday after deliberately ramming his vehicle into a group of elementary school children walking home in Osaka Prefecture, injuring seven of them, including one seriously, in what authorities are treating as an attempted murder.
The suspect, identified as Yuki Yazawa, reportedly told police he was “sick and tired of everything” and had intentionally targeted the children with the intent to kill. As a result, the case is being handled not as reckless driving, but as a criminal act of attempted murder, according to Osaka prefectural police.
The victims, aged 7 and 8, had just left a nearby elementary school when the attack occurred. A 7-year-old girl suffered a broken jaw and remains under medical care, while the six other children — all boys — sustained minor injuries.
Witnesses described a harrowing scene. According to public broadcaster NHK, one eyewitness said the children had “fallen to the ground, screaming” following the impact. Yazawa, meanwhile, reportedly remained in the driver’s seat, silent and dazed, until officers arrived and placed him under arrest.
Ambulances rushed to the narrow residential street where the incident took place, as television footage showed medics providing immediate aid to the injured children.
Japan is known for its relatively low crime rate, but in recent years, the country has witnessed a series of isolated yet shocking violent incidents. One of the most notorious occurred in 2008, when a man drove a truck into a crowd in Tokyo’s Akihabara district and then launched a knife attack, killing seven people in total.
Police are continuing their investigation into Yazawa’s motives and mental state.
Edgaroo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
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