<figure id="attachment_345615" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-345615" style="width: 1636px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="5ea9d211"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/11/0880796a455fe403215ac6c325986dd3.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-345615" class="wp-caption-text">Watanabe was sent to the Saitama Prefectural Police Higashi Iruma Station for prosecution immediately after the incident. He was giving a sharp look to the press surrounding him.</figcaption></figure>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The crime was extremely vicious and the motive unreasonable. I can&#8217;t help but say that he is self-centered.</span></p>
<p> The prosecutor&#8217;s office condemned the defendant&#8217;s crime.</p>
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<p> On November 28, the Saitama District Court heard the case of unemployed defendant Hiroshi Watanabe, 68, who is accused of murder. Watanabe allegedly locked himself in his house in Fujimino City, Saitama Prefecture, with a shotgun and shot his mother&#8217;s doctor, Junichi Suzuki (44 at the time) in the chest, killing him. The prosecutor&#8217;s office demanded life imprisonment, saying that the defendant &#8220;had the intent to kill.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> At his trial, Watanabe expressed resentment that his mother, who had died the day before the crime at the age of 92, had not been saved. He said, &#8216;I asked for resuscitation measures for my mother, but she wouldn&#8217;t listen to me, and I got mad. On the day of the incident, he called seven medical personnel, including Mr. Suzuki, to his home and shot Mr. Suzuki to death. He also opened fire on a physical therapist in her 40s, seriously wounding her.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Watanabe apologized to the deceased Mr. Suzuki and the others, saying, &#8220;I am deeply sorry. The defense argued that the defendant should be charged with manslaughter, saying, &#8216;He tried to shoot Mr. Suzuki in the knee, but he was not holding the gun firmly, so he hit him in the chest.</span></p>
<p> In the February 18, 2010 issue of &#8220;FRIDAY,&#8221; a detailed report was published on the case of the shooter who was holed up in the house. We would like to reproduce the article and look back on Watanabe&#8217;s horrifying words and actions prior to the crime (some parts have been corrected).</p>
<h2> Come and offer incense!</h2>
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<p> On January 28, 2010, the Saitama Prefectural Police Higashi Iruma Police Station arrested Watanabe on suspicion of attempted murder for shooting Suzuki, a doctor who was in charge of his mother&#8217;s home medical care, with a shotgun.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> On January 27, the day before the shooting, Watanabe told seven staff members, including Suzuki, to &#8220;Come and offer incense to (the deceased mother)! and called seven staff members, including Mr. Suzuki, to his home. Even though Mr. Suzuki had confirmed the mother&#8217;s death the day before, he asked them to &#8216;give her a heart massage and resuscitate her. When Ms. Suzuki refused, he pulled the trigger of a shotgun.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Watanabe remained holed up for 11 hours, but at 8:00 a.m. the next morning, the prefectural police raided the house and arrested him. The next morning at 8:00 a.m., the prefectural police raided the house and made an arrest. Later, Mr. Suzuki was confirmed dead and sent to the police station on suspicion of murder. He said, &#8220;My mother died, and I thought nothing good would come of it. I thought I would kill myself by leading the doctor and the people at the clinic by the wayside,'&#8221; said a reporter from a national newspaper.</span></p>
<p> In March 2007, Watanabe moved with his mother to a 52,000 yen house in Fujimino City, Saitama Prefecture. He was taking care of his mother at home while receiving public assistance, and had little to do with the neighbors.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> In the three years since he moved in, I have never seen him outside his house. Mr. Watanabe&#8217;s life revolves around his mother. In the mornings, she took care of her mother&#8217;s meals and excrement. Even when he was talking with us, he would fly away when his mother called him. He had his mother&#8217;s bed in a sunny room and slept near her at night&#8221; (an acquaintance of Watanabe&#8217;s).</span></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" A long letter of protest to the hospital"></div>
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<p>He was so worried about his mother that he often caused problems at the hospital. A source at the hospital where Watanabe had sent his mother for 10 years said, &#8220;He would make a fuss in the waiting room while waiting for his turn to see the doctor, saying, &#8216;See (his) mother first.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> While waiting for her turn to see the doctor, she would make a fuss in the waiting room, demanding that her mother be seen first, or send long letters of protest. He even specified the name of the drug he wanted me to give him, saying, &#8216;I want you to give me this medicine. I told him that doctors know their patients best, but he wouldn&#8217;t agree, and I had a hard time dealing with him.</span></p>
<p> The rift between Mr. Suzuki and Mr. Watanabe began when they had a disagreement over his mother&#8217;s medical treatment,&#8221; said an official at the Regional Medical Consultation Office.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;We consulted with the defendant Watanabe about 15 times from January &#8217;21. The contents of the consultation were: &#8216;The mother doesn&#8217;t eat. She doesn&#8217;t defecate. I told her, &#8216;She is over 90 years old, so that means she is nearing the end of her life,&#8217; but she would not listen to me, saying, &#8216;I want you to see her until the end. Considering his mother&#8217;s physical condition, Dr. Suzuki did not recommend any unreasonable medication.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> While Dr. Suzuki&#8217;s first priority was to put as little strain on her body as possible, the Watanabe defendant wanted to prolong her life by any means possible. The last time Watanabe called me was three days before the incident. It was a consultation about his mother&#8217;s care. His voice was different from usual, very indifferent.</span></p>
<p> On the evening of January 24, the last day he consulted with his supervisor, neighbors saw Watanabe screaming in front of his apartment.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;He was scratching his head and yelling, &#8216;Ah~~ why the hell, damn it! &#8216; and was going back and forth on the same street. He was also kicking the walls of private houses and other objects. When I tried to walk past next door, he turned red in the face and snickered at me and my kids. &#8216;I&#8217;m sorry,&#8217; I apologized reflexively, &#8216;just go! &#8216; He yelled at me and I ran away. &#8230;&#8230;&#8221;</span></p>
<p> Watanabe took his grief over the loss of his mother out on the doctor in a twisted way. The verdict is scheduled to be handed down on December 12.</p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The &quot;horrified face&quot; photo of the defendant who gunned down his doctor..."></div>
<figure id="attachment_345602" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-345602" style="width: 1568px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="63f550be"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/11/fdb66503c1629ab29595625d9b25a325.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-345602" class="wp-caption-text">Defendant Watanabe was urgently arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. He was placed in the middle of the back seat of an investigative vehicle and driven into the Higashi-Iruma Police Station.</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_345603" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-345603" style="width: 1568px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="7662abfe"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/11/808575c56c931ae0014b2a0ce33973bb.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-345603" class="wp-caption-text"> An ambulance believed to be carrying the deceased Mr. Suzuki</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_228016" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-228016" style="width: 2067px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="a014db6f"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/02/7994c8f6d0dd5292db5e0a57d8f7abaf.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-228016" class="wp-caption-text"> Three days after the incident, local residents visited Mr. Suzuki&#8217;s workplace to offer flowers. He was a passionate doctor loved by all.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_345604" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-345604" style="width: 1568px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="b5f6dc7d"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/11/fc5e986d72576833a6b37f439913055a.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-345604" class="wp-caption-text"> The press gathered at the scene immediately after the incident.</figcaption></figure>
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 Shinji Hasuo

 Watanabe, the defendant who held a doctor hostage and shot him to death in Saitama, was sentenced to life imprisonment. Interviews with the surrounding people revealed the defendant's difficult life and his many unusual and selfish behaviors. We look back at the horrified behavior just prior to the incident.

‘Ohhhhhh, why, damn it!’ …Saitama stand-in man “kills doctor with shotgun” and acts horrified 3 days before the crime.

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