[bloodrayne]

Hoe-wielding maniac hacks 4 elderly people

HIMEJI, Hyogo -- A hoe-wielding man went on a rampage Wednesday in Kakogawa, Hyogo Prefecture, hacking away at four elderly people before he was arrested, police said.

Mainichi Shimbun
Investigators gather at one of the locations where a hoe-wielding man attacked elderly people.

Three of the victims were seriously wounded while the fourth victim, a man, escaped the ordeal with minor injuries. The 47-year-old assailant, who has a history of mental illness, was extremely agitated when police captured him shortly after 10 a.m. in the city.

"Are they (victims) dead? I want the death penalty!" he was reportedly screaming at officers.

Police said the man walked up to 75-year-old Nobuko Takada, who was working in a field, and viciously swung a hoe into her head at about 9:20 a.m. Wednesday. She suffered serious cuts to the head and face. A 72-year-old man who was working alongside her was also wounded in the attack.

Within half an hour, the jobless man from Kakogawa repeated the act on 82-year-old Misako Fujiwara, who was waiting for a bus, and then 69-year-old Emiko Kanazawa, who was also working on a separate field. One of them suffered a fractured skull.

Police organized a massive manhunt and soon arrested the man riding a bicycle with a hoe in his hand. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, June 4, 2003)