Arsonist attacks anime studio in Japan, at least 13 believed dead, 36 injured, about thirty missing.

[The Romulan Republic]

https://www.apnews.com/b10907eaf37945889d9ee4339df92aaa

TOKYO (AP) — A man burst into an animation production studio in Kyoto and set it on fire early Thursday, killing one person, leaving 12 others presumed dead and a dozen possibly trapped inside.

The blaze injured another 36 people, some of them critically, Japanese authorities said.

The fire broke out in the three-story Kyoto Animation building in Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto, after the suspect spread an unidentified liquid to accelerate the blaze, Kyoto prefectural police and fire department officials said.

One person died of severe burns, said fire department official Satoshi Fujiwara. Most of the 10 seriously injured people had burns. Rescuers found 12 people presumed dead on building’s first and second floors, Fujiwara said.

As many as 18 others could be still trapped on the third floor, he said.

The suspect was also injured and taken to a hospital, officials said. Police are investigating the man on suspicion of arson.

Footage on Japan’s NHK national television showed gray smoke billowing from the charred building. In other footage on TBS network showed windows blown off.

Witnesses in the neighborhood said they heard bangs coming from the building, others said they saw people coming out of the building blackened, bleeding, walking barefoot, Kyodo News reported.

Rescue officials set up an orange tent outside the studio building to provide first aid and sort out the injured.

Fire department officials say more than 70 people were in the building at the time of the fire. Many of them ran outside, but about 30 people still could not be reached.

Firefighters were searching for victims after the fire was extinguished hours later.

Kyoto Animation, better known as KyoAni, was founded in 1981 as an animation and comic book production studio, and is known for mega-hit stories featuring high school girls, including “Lucky Star,” ″K-On!” and “Haruhi Suzumiya.”

Horrific. Hopefully its not ideologically-motivated, though like all acts of mass violence, it'll be drawn into the gun control debate (as "proof" that having tighter gun control laws doesn't prevent mass killings, and that if all the employees had guns they'd still be alive).

[Eulogy]

Hoo boy, attacking a beloved animation studio and killing their employees? I don't see this waste of flesh living long in prison.

[Eulogy]

Ghetto edit Scratch that, the shithead who did this has already died of his burns. Shame he didn't manage to kill himself before reaching the studio.

[Vendetta]

Even if he hadn't there's no chance he wouldn't have been hanged.

This is the worst mass murder in Japan's postwar history.

[Elheru Aran]

Even if he hadn't there's no chance he wouldn't have been hanged.

This is the worst mass murder in Japan's postwar history.

I thought Japan didn't have the death penalty? Maybe I'm confusing it with Australia. And wasn't the Aum Shuyrinko (however that's spelled) terror attack worse?

[Straha]

Even if he hadn't there's no chance he wouldn't have been hanged.

This is the worst mass murder in Japan's postwar history.

I thought Japan didn't have the death penalty? Maybe I'm confusing it with Australia. And wasn't the Aum Shuyrinko (however that's spelled) terror attack worse?

Japan has kept the Death Penalty, death by hanging. Not pretty.

Aum effected more people by far in their attacks, in the hundreds. But they never killed more than two dozen or so people.

[Vendetta]

Japan does indeed have the death penalty, it's commonly sought for multiple murders. It does have a very low violent crime rate though, only 306 murders were recorded at all in 2017, so the actual number of people on death row in the country is only about 120.

The Tokyo subway attack only killed 13 people and injured 50.


The death penalty in Japan is pretty contentious with human rights agencies, partly because of the overall flaws in the criminal justice system (99% prosecution rate, very reliant on confessions, not terribly stringent on the rules for how they are obtained), and partly because of the way death row inmates are treated (solitary confinement, no communication with other prisoners, not told the date of execution)

[Straha]

The Tokyo subway attack only killed 13 people and injured 50.

I thought they effected a lot more than fifty people? I do know they had an earlier attack in '94 when they tried to kill a bunch of judges using sarin gas and killed ten (??) people and sickened hundreds.

[Elheru Aran]

Cheers for the clarification, guys. And yeah, I'm aware of the fucked up criminal justice system in Japan. It's not a good one to get tied up with.

Has there been any update on motive? I guess not if it just happened today...

[Vendetta]

The Tokyo subway attack only killed 13 people and injured 50.

I thought they effected a lot more than fifty people? I do know they had an earlier attack in '94 when they tried to kill a bunch of judges using sarin gas and killed ten (??) people and sickened hundreds.

There were temporary effects on about a thousand people, but only lasting a few hours at most.

[AniThyng]

Ghetto edit Scratch that, the shithead who did this has already died of his burns. Shame he didn't manage to kill himself before reaching the studio.

Do you have a source that he already died? I can't find it on English media

[SpottedKitty]

Ghetto edit Scratch that, the shithead who did this has already died of his burns. Shame he didn't manage to kill himself before reaching the studio.

Do you have a source that he already died? I can't find it on English media

The latest BBC report says that the suspect is in hospital under police guard, and also says another of the victims died. No indication that it's the same person, although it's always possible a reporter accidentally mixed up the two statements.