A 14-year-old boy was sent to prosecutors on Thursday for attempted murder after being arrested on suspicion of slashing a sixth-grade elementary schoolgirl in Aomori Prefecture.

Several knives were found in a bag he was believed to be carrying at the time of Tuesday’s incident, investigative sources said.

The boy is suspected of attempting to kill the girl by approaching her from behind and slashing her throat as she was walking home alone from school at around 4:40 p.m. on Tuesday.

He may have attacked the girl when he was on his way home from his junior high school, the sources said. Investigators found the boy at a cram school in the city of Hachinohe a few minutes after 8 p.m. that day.

Investigators are working to track the boy’s moves before and after the incident, and to find motives for his alleged attack.

The suspect has admitted the charge, telling police that he had intended to kill and it didn’t matter who it was, the sources said.

Japanese police do not release the names of arrested minors.

The girl, left with a 10-centimeter-long gash as deep as 1 cm, was taken to a nearby hospital and is able to speak, according to the police.

KEYWORDS teens, Aomori, stabbings, Hachinohe