2010 Habikino shooting

2010 Habikino shooting
Location of Habikino in Osaka
Location	Iichan bar, Habikino, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
Date	12 January 2010 20:00 JST (UTC+09:00)
Attack type	Shooting
Weapons	Rifle[1]
Deaths	4 (including the perpetrator)
Non-fatal injuries	0
Perpetrator	Yasuhisa Sugiura

The 2010 Habikino shooting was a deadly spree shooting which occurred at a drinking establishment located just south of Eganoshō Station in Habikino, Osaka Prefecture, Japan on 12 January 2010.

The attack was carried out by 49-year-old Yasuhisa Sugiura. Three people, including the gunman's mother-in-law, were shot dead before the perpetrator committed suicide.^[2]

Shooting incidents such as these are rare in Japan.^[3][4][5]

The perpetrator

Yasuhisa Sugiura, 49, was a government employee in Japan's second-largest city Osaka. According to police, he was involved in a "troubled marriage" with a 48-year-old woman.^[6]

Shooting

On 12 January 2010, Sugiura went to the Ii-chan bar to discuss a divorce with his mother-in-law, 66-year-old Yoshiko Tanaka, who would subsequently become one of his victims.^[6][7] The bar was open for business and had other customers inside; Sugiura's wife was possibly one of them. Sugiura then departed. Sugiura came back armed with a rifle and opened fire at approximately 20:00 that evening, killing three people. Two of Sugiura's targets — the mother-in-law and a 23-year-old bar employee named Tatsuya Fukui — died immediately; a third, 49-year-old bar landlord Hiroto Uehara, died shortly thereafter.^[7] Witnesses described the rifle shots as "three or four blunt bangs"; a pool of blood was left in front of the bar.^[6]

Sugiura then exited the bar and shot himself in the abdomen, killing himself.^[6]

References