Nine people were injured — one seriously — in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in the early hours of Tuesday when a man rammed his car into pedestrians on a well-known shopping street in what he claimed was an act of terrorism, authorities said.
Police arrested Kazuhiro Kusakabe, 21, who was driving a rental car with Osaka license plates, on suspicion of attempted murder. A 19-year-old university student remains unconscious after being hit by the minicar shortly after midnight on Takeshita Street in the Harajuku district, which is normally packed with young shoppers and foreign tourists during daylight hours.
Investigative sources quoted the man as saying he had perpetrated an act of terrorism "in retaliation for an execution" and "would not make any excuses" for his act. It was not immediately clear whether he was referring to a specific execution or Japan's system of capital punishment.
Kusakabe drove the wrong way on the one-way street and hit eight men aged between 19 and 51 while traveling around 140 meters, the police said. The vehicle stopped after crashing into a building.
Another man was slightly injured after Kusakabe allegedly struck him after getting out of the car, the police said.
Kusakabe fled the scene, but police found him in a nearby park about half an hour later.
Kusakabe told the police he had driven from Osaka and intended to kill the pedestrians he hit. There was a 20-liter tank of kerosene in the rental car, which he said he planned to use to burn the vehicle, the investigative sources said.
The incident took place close to Meiji Shrine shortly after midnight. The street was closed to vehicular traffic at the time as it was expected to be crowded on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
