Knife-Wielding Man Dies after Being Shot by Osaka Police

Osaka, Aug. 5 (Jiji Press)–A man armed with a knife died after being shot by an Osaka prefectural police officer who had repeatedly warned him to drop the weapon in the city of Kawachinagano in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan. Around 7 p.m. on Tuesday, the police received an emergency call reporting that a bloodied man with a knife was on the rampage near the entrance of a supermarket in Kawachinagano. Among the five officers who arrived at the scene, a 32-year-old officer warned the man to drop the knife. After the warning was ignored, the officer fired a warning shot into the air. When the man continued advancing toward the officer, another shot was fired, hitting him in the left side of the chest. The man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of obstructing official duties and other charges but was later confirmed dead at a hospital. The deceased is Shigeyoshi Tsuchiya, 60, an unemployed resident living near the scene, according to the police. The cause of death was hemorrhagic shock resulting from chest trauma after the bullet passed through his body. While expressing regret over the man’s death, the police said that the requirements for the use of a firearm appeared to have been met, adding that details of the incident remain under investigation. None of the five officers were injured in the incident, which took place about 300 meters southwest of Nankai Electric Railway Co.’s Chiyoda Station, in a neighborhood lined with houses and restaurants. A 40-year-old Vietnamese man living nearby who witnessed the incident said that he heard two gunshots and that the person who was shot collapsed on the spot. He said he was frightened by the incident. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]