Mahoujin Tsukai
Jul 26, 2006, 23:09
I came across the following pages while surfing the net today. They're about an 18-year old youth, Misao Katagiri (片桐操), who shot dead a policeman and went on a car hijacking & hostage taking rampage which ended in a gun battle at a gun store -
http://page.freett.com/yabusaka/syounenrifle.htm
http://kangaeru.s59.xrea.com/rifle.htm
According to the articles, he was obsessed with guns since elementary school and liked to read the military magazine 'maru'. His grades at school were not that good, but he was physically strong and topped his class at arm wrestling.
He tried to enlist in Japan's self defence force after graduating from Junior High School, but failed. This was a set back for him.
When he became 18 in 1965, it became legally possible for him to own a gun. He took leave from his job, returned home and found a rifle belonging to his elder sister. He placed the rifle under his name and spent many hours a day 'taking care' of it. :okashii:
The carnage began when he took the rifle out of his home. When he was approached by a policeman who demanded to see his gun, he killed the policeman and took his uniform and pistol. He then fired at two more policeman, hijacked several cars and finally barricaded himself in a gun store, where he took several hostages.
Hundreds of special police and 2 helicopters were sent to confront him. He fired about 130 rounds from the gun store and wounded some policemen, reporters and passerbys (spelling?). Misao Katagiri was finally subdued by the police.
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What the gunman said after his arrest shocked me. He said that the rifle was important than life & he wanted to go to Vietnam :shock:, so that he could fire his favourite gun as he liked and wouldn't mind if he died.
***OMG*** :shock: That guy was nuts!
If he did go to Vietnam, he is the type of person who would carry out village massacres.
Misao Katagiri was executed in 1972.
I sometimes hear about crimes comitted by juviniles in Japan (more recently, a youth burned down his home over school grades), but none that I know of come close to this one in scale.
If gun laws in Japan today are as relaxed as those in the USA, incidents like the one above will occur more frequently.
http://page.freett.com/yabusaka/syounenrifle.htm
http://kangaeru.s59.xrea.com/rifle.htm
According to the articles, he was obsessed with guns since elementary school and liked to read the military magazine 'maru'. His grades at school were not that good, but he was physically strong and topped his class at arm wrestling.
He tried to enlist in Japan's self defence force after graduating from Junior High School, but failed. This was a set back for him.
When he became 18 in 1965, it became legally possible for him to own a gun. He took leave from his job, returned home and found a rifle belonging to his elder sister. He placed the rifle under his name and spent many hours a day 'taking care' of it. :okashii:
The carnage began when he took the rifle out of his home. When he was approached by a policeman who demanded to see his gun, he killed the policeman and took his uniform and pistol. He then fired at two more policeman, hijacked several cars and finally barricaded himself in a gun store, where he took several hostages.
Hundreds of special police and 2 helicopters were sent to confront him. He fired about 130 rounds from the gun store and wounded some policemen, reporters and passerbys (spelling?). Misao Katagiri was finally subdued by the police.
-----
What the gunman said after his arrest shocked me. He said that the rifle was important than life & he wanted to go to Vietnam :shock:, so that he could fire his favourite gun as he liked and wouldn't mind if he died.
***OMG*** :shock: That guy was nuts!
If he did go to Vietnam, he is the type of person who would carry out village massacres.
Misao Katagiri was executed in 1972.
I sometimes hear about crimes comitted by juviniles in Japan (more recently, a youth burned down his home over school grades), but none that I know of come close to this one in scale.
If gun laws in Japan today are as relaxed as those in the USA, incidents like the one above will occur more frequently.