Two individuals sustained injuries during a shooting incident at a hospital in Toda, Japan, as reported by local media.
The person we think is guilty, who may be about 40 or 50 years old, ran away on a motorcycle and we haven’t caught them yet.
At least one person has been held captive in a post office in the nearby city of Warabi, according to the authorities.
We still don’t know if the two incidents are related or linked in any way.
Japanese media have shown a video of a man holding a gun and standing at the entrance of a post office close to the Toda Chuo General Hospital, where two individuals were shot.
The post office that the Warabi authorities talked about is around 2. 5 kilometers (15 miles) away from the Toda Chuo General Hospital.
Video also showed cops and ambulances surrounding the place.
The kidnapping in Warabi was told around 2:15 PM.
The police in Tokyo have moved officers from a special team that deals with hostage situations to the place where the incident is happening. This information was shared by NHK, a Japanese broadcaster.
Officials also requested that individuals who reside within a 300m distance from the Warabi post office evacuate the vicinity, as reported by local news outlets.
The buildings close by have been put on lockdown too.
In Japan, it is not common to have shootings happen. The country has strong rules about who can own guns, and only permits people to own hunting rifles and airguns.
The owners need to take a difficult test and have their mental health checked.
Tag: local media
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Two injured following hospital shooting in Japan
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11 people killed in China as roof of school collapses on student volleyball team
In northeastern China on Sunday afternoon, a student volleyball team was practising when the ceiling of the school gymnasium collapsed, killing at least eleven individuals, according to local authorities.
State media on Monday cited local officials as saying that 19 persons, including two coaches and 17 members of the school’s women’s team, were present in the middle school gymnasium in Qiqihar city, Heilongjiang province, at the time of the incident.
Although local media sources mentioned interviews with team parents, two of whom stated that their children were 15 and 16 respectively, the reports did not specifically state the ages of the victims.
Preliminary investigations suggested the collapse may have been caused by construction materials left on the gym roof during construction work on an adjacent building.
The material, called perlite, gained weight after being soaked in water brought by rainfall and led to the collapse, officials said. Further investigation is on-going, with criminal proceedings against those involved in the construction pending, officials said during a briefing Monday.
The accident has sparked both grief and outrage among the local community and wider public.
Images circulating in local media showed a large crowd of people gathered outside the school Monday, where a front walkway was covered with flowers brought by mourners.
The incident, which joins a long line of safety related tragedies in China, has also generated backlash against its official handling, including accusations of a lag in the release of timely information.
“Their first reaction is to block the news. Who cares about your child when they are scared of losing their positions?” said one comment on social media, which garnered 18,000 likes.
Other social media users ironically circulated an official notice dated earlier this month lauding a recent government-led safety training in the city, in a tacit critique.
In a press briefing Monday evening, local officials said the incident exposed problems such as the “inadequate investigation of potential safety hazards” and “inadequate safety supervision.”
“We will reflect deeply and learn lessons and comprehensively and deeply carry out the ’2023 special action plan’ for investigating and rectifying major safety hazards,” the officials pledged, referring to a national safety campaign announced in May.
Safety incidents are not uncommon in China and the accident follows a string of tragedies that have been linked to lax safety standards in recent months.
Last month, an explosion at a barbecue restaurant in northwestern China left 31 dead and prompted official pledges of a nationwide campaign to promote workplace safety, with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at that time calling on all regions to “screen for and rectify all types of risks and hidden dangers.”
That accident followed a coal mine collapse in Inner Mongolia in February that left 53 dead, while in April, the deadliest fire to hit Beijing in two decades killed 29 people in a hospital.