At least 16 people were injured, and two have been confirmed as dead, after a truck collided with pedestrians and the truck's driver allegedly stabbed people at Tokyo's Akihabara otaku shopping district on Sunday afternoon. A man reportedly struck five to six individuals with a truck at an intersection near the main Japan Railways station at around 12:35 p.m. The man allegedly proceeded to leave the vehicle and stab people on the street. Later that afternoon, the police arrested a 25-year-old male named Tomohiro Katō on suspicion of attempted murder by "stabbing one person after another with a knife." Kato was born in Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan, but lives in Shizuoka Prefecture's Susono City in central Japan.

16 people were taken to hospitals, and two people — a 19-year-old male and a 74-year-old male — have reportedly died. Three more were in cardiac arrest.

Source: Sankei Shimbun , Nikkei via Patrick Macias

Update: Details about the suspect and the victims added.

Update 2: FNN has added video coverage. Sunday is usually the busiest day for pedestrian shoppers in Akihabara, as it is the day that the most people have a day off school or work in Japan.

Update 3: Sankei Shimbun now reports that a third person, a 47-year-old male, has died. A 17th person, a police officer, was also injured. The truck was a two-ton rental vehicle. According to eyewitnesses, the truck entered the intersection in a zigzag manner and passed the vehicles that had stopped at a red light to strike pedestrians on the crosswalk.

Update 4: Nikkei is reporting that five people have died. Of the injured, 14 were male, and 3 were female. The incident occurred at the intersection of Chūō and Kanda Myōjin Streets, two of the main throughways of the area.

Update 5: NHK News reports that a 21-year-old woman is the sixth person confirmed as having died in the incident. Sankei Shimbun lists the other victims as a 19-year-old male named Kazunori Fujino, a 74-year-old male named Katsuhiko Nakamura, a 47-year-old male, a 29-year-old male, and a 20-year-old male. Sankei Shimbun also displayed a reader-submitted photograph of the suspect being arrested.

Update 6: Nikkei reports that a seventh person, 33-year-old Mitsuru Matsui, has died.

Update 7: 47 News lists the dead:

Katsuhiko Nakamura (male, 74 years old)

Kazunori Fujino (male, 19)

Kasuhiro Koiwa (male, 47)

Naoki Miyamoto (male, 31)

Takahiro Kawaguchi (male, 19)

Mai Mutō (female, 21)

Mitsuru Matsui (male, 33)

Update 8: The incident in the intersection occurred near the main Akihabara branch of Sofmap, one of the largest Japanese retailers of electronics, music, home video, and software. The new eight-story complex of Mandarake, the largest store chain for used anime and manga goods, is one block away. Police apprehended the suspect against the wall of a branch of Satō Musen, a discount store chain of electronics and appliances. Stores are reportedly closed in the immediate vicinity.

Update 9: Jiji Press and Byōkan Sunday report that a message, titled "I will kill people in Akihabara," was posted on a mobile phone bulletin board about seven hours before the fatal hit-and-run incident and the stabbing incident in Akihabara. The message reportedly reads:



I Will Kill People in Akihabara

06/08 05:21