Japan: 15 Yokohama Rubber plant workers were stabbed by a man who was detained in Shizuoka

Japan: According to Kyodo News, police detained one guy on Saturday in relation to a stabbing incident that injured fifteen workers at Yokohama Rubber Co.’s Mishima Plant in central Japan.

A person familiar with the matter told Kyodo News that Masaki Oyama, 38, was identified as the suspect. Oyama had previously worked at the firm.

Around 4:30 p.m. (local time) on Friday, an emergency call was received indicating that many persons had been stabbed and that a liquid had been spilled throughout the building.

Authorities believe Oyama, a resident of Mishima in Shizuoka Prefecture, used a survival knife, indicating a serious desire to murder. Oyama is presently jobless, according to Kyodo News.

Fifteen male workers, all of whom were awake, were wounded in the assault and sent to the hospital. They ranged in age from twenty to fifty.

According to the fire service, eight people were stabbed, while the remaining seven may have been injured by the liquid, Kyodo News said.

Oyama resided in a neighboring employee dormitory and had previously worked at the Mishima plant, according to sources.

As of 2024, around 980 people worked at Yokohama Rubber’s Mishima Plant, which produces automobile tires. The plant is around a kilometer away from the city office in Mishima.

Even though Japan is renowned for having low rates of violent crime, as seen by its stringent gun laws and low murder rate, sporadic events nevertheless happen.

The murder of former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022 and a shooting and stabbing spree in 2023 that claimed the lives of four people, including two police officers, for which a man was given the death penalty in October are examples of previous incidents.

A knife assault at Tokyo’s Toda-mae metro station in May resulted in the attempted murder of a 43-year-old man.