Police in Japan have taken into custody a man suspected of stabbing 10 people on a commuter train in Tokyo Saturday in what appears to be an attack unrelated to the ongoing Olympic Games scheduled to end Sunday.
The Associated Press reported that a 36-year-old man, later identified by police as Yusuke Tsushima, targeted passengers at random, telling authorities that he wished to kill women who “looked happy.”
According to Japan-based TBS Television, the man told police that he originally wanted to attack a female store employee who reported him for shoplifting earlier in the day, but decided to carry out the rampage on the train after finding out the shop had closed for the day.
The first victim, whom the AP identified as a woman in her 20s, was transported to the hospital in serious condition, with the Tokyo Fire Department saying that eight others were also taken to nearby hospitals.
The 10th person injured was able to walk away from the attack, according to the AP.
Japanese media reported that the attacker dropped his knife after the handle broke and fled the area of the mass stabbing, which the AP said was about 9 miles away from the main National Stadium for the Tokyo Olympics.
The man later on Saturday walked into a convenience store with bloodstains on his shirt and identified himself as the attacker, prompting the store manager to call the police.
The Kyoto News Agency reported that the man got on the train with a knife, scissors, cooking oil and a lighter, and poured the oil on the floor of a train car with the intention of setting it on fire.
The attack is the latest in a series of high-profile stabbings in recent years in Japan, including in 2019 when a man used two knives to attack a group of schoolgirls, killing two people and injuring 17 other before committing suicide.
The closing ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics is scheduled to take place Sunday at 8 p.m. local time, 7 a.m. ET, from the National Stadium.
Due to COVID-19 prevention measures, athletes have been instructed to travel home within two days of their last competition, leaving only a few thousand expected to attend the final ceremony.