Keio Line indiscriminate stabbing case: “87 days of darkness” that drove the suspect to commit the crime

The tragedy occurred on Halloween.

At around 8:00 p.m. on October 31, a man wearing a green shirt, blue suit, and purple coat boarded a Shinjuku-bound express train at Chofu Station on the Keio Line, and stabbed a man in his 70s in the chest with a knife. He then sprayed oil from a lighter into the train and set it on fire. The train came to an emergency stop at Kokuryo Station and the passengers were evacuated, but a total of 17 people were seriously injured.

“I was fascinated by the Joker’s attitude of not being afraid of death.

The suspect, Kyota Hattori (24), who was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, made the following statement during the police interrogation: “I have a strong admiration for the Joker, the villain in the movie Batman. Why did he commit such a selfish act?

Hattori was born and raised in Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture. He lived with his mother and sister in a public housing complex. A senior student at his junior high school told us about Hattori’s life in his hometown.

“He belonged to the judo club, had black hair, and was not a delinquent. I remember that he was really quiet, and no matter what was said to him, he would just smile and say “hehe. But I wasn’t ostracized, and I was sociable enough to join in when everyone was playing together.

After graduating from a prefectural high school, he worked at a local Internet cafe and had a girlfriend at the time.

After graduating from prefectural high school, he worked at a local Internet café and had a girlfriend at the time, “We weren’t a prominent couple, but Hattori was very protective of her and they were always together on holidays. He didn’t have many close friends after he entered the workforce, so I think his girlfriend was his emotional support.

However, when his girlfriend broke up with him, Hattori’s life took a dark turn.

However, he broke up with her, and his life took a turn for the worse. “Hattori was fired from his job at an Internet cafe after he got into trouble for taking pictures of customers. After that, he went to work for another company, but he had trouble with human relations and his work did not go well. In addition, her ex-boyfriend got married to someone else, and she may have heard about it,” said a reporter from a local TV station.

She resigned from her job in June this year. In June of this year, he resigned from his job. He thought about committing suicide, but was unable to do so, and came up with the idea of being executed for mass murder.

Hattori bought a knife with a blade length of 30cm from a mail order shop. “He went into debt to a consumer loan company, thinking that he would be executed anyway, and wandered from place to place in Kobe and Nagoya, looking for the crime scene. Then, on August 6, a random stabbing incident occurred on the Odakyu Line. Seeing this news, Hattori decided to commit indiscriminate murder on the train. The 87-day countdown began until the incident occurred.

At the end of September, Hattori was in Hachioji City, Tokyo. He thought, “If I’m going to kill a lot of people, I’m going to do it in Tokyo,” and stayed at a business hotel near Keio-Hachioji Station, which cost about 4,000 yen a night.

For the next month, Hattori enjoyed sightseeing in Tokyo while preparing for the crime. In the Odakyu Line incident, the perpetrator had failed to use salad oil for arson. The suspect then went to a lighter store in Ameyoko, Ueno (Taito Ward), which he found on the Internet.

On October 16, you bought 10 bottles of oil for Zippo,” he said. You bought 10 bottles of oil for your Zippo on October 16, 3.5 liters in total, worth 6,500 yen, in cash. I remember him because young customers are rare. He looked like an ordinary young man, but a bottle of oil lasts for a year, so I thought he was unusual.

After that, he bought more oil at convenience stores little by little, and also bought spray cans and Joker costumes in Shinjuku and other places after coming to Tokyo.

He then chose the express train departing from Chofu on the Keio Line as his crime scene.

“Hattori stated that he chose the place and time with the intention of killing as many people as possible. He probably took an express train with a long running time between stations for this purpose. Furthermore, he chose the up train because he expected that many people would be heading to the city center to enjoy Halloween. After his arrest, he showed no signs of remorse, saying, ‘I feel bad that I couldn’t kill people as planned.

It can only be described as foolish and selfish.

From “FRIDAY” November 19, 2021 issue