Unusual behavior of Hiroshi Watanabe three days before his crime in the “holed-up doctor shooting” case

On January 28, the Saitama Prefectural Police Higashi Iruma Station arrested Hiroshi Watanabe, 66, on suspicion of attempted murder for shooting Junichi Suzuki, 44, a doctor who was in charge of his mother’s home care, with a shotgun.

The suspect called Mr. Suzuki and seven other staff members to his house on the 27th, saying, ‘Come and offer incense to your mother. Even though Ms. Suzuki had confirmed her mother’s death the day before, she asked him to ‘give her a heart massage and revive her. He pulled the trigger of a shotgun on Ms. Suzuki, who refused.

After that, Watanabe holed himself up for 11 hours, but the prefectural police raided the house at 8:00 the next morning and arrested him. He was arrested. Mr. Suzuki was later confirmed dead and sent to the police on suspicion of murder. ‘My mother died, and I thought nothing good would come of it. I thought I would kill myself by taking the doctor and the people at the clinic with me on the road,’ he stated.

It was in March of 2007 that Watanabe and his mother moved into a house in Fujimino City, Saitama Prefecture, where the rent was 52,000 yen. It was in March 2007. He was taking care of his mother at home while receiving welfare benefits, and had little contact with the neighbors.

In the three years since she moved here, I have never seen her outside her house. Mr. Watanabe’s life is centered around his mother. In the morning, she took care of her mother’s meals and excrement. Even when she was talking to us, she would fly away when her mother called her. He kept his mother’s bed in a sunny room and slept near her at night.” (An acquaintance of the suspect, Watanabe)

He was so worried about his mother that he often caused problems at the hospital. A source at the hospital where Watanabe had been taking his mother for the past 10 years told us, “When I was waiting for my turn to see the doctor, I had to leave the hospital.

He made a lot of noise in the waiting room while waiting for his turn to be examined, saying, ‘See your mother first,’ and sent long letters of protest. There was even a time when he specified the name of a medicine, saying, ‘I want you to give me this medicine. I told him that doctors know their patients best, but he didn’t agree, and I was having trouble dealing with him.

The rift between Ms. Suzuki and Mr. Watanabe started when they had a disagreement over her mother’s medical treatment,” said a representative of the Community Medical Consultation Office.

We consulted the suspect Watanabe 15 times since January last year. He said, ‘My mother is not eating. ‘My mother doesn’t eat, she doesn’t defecate. I told him that she was over 90 years old and was nearing the end of her life, but he refused to listen to me, saying that he wanted me to see her until the end. Dr. Suzuki did not recommend any unreasonable medication for her mother’s condition.

While Dr. Suzuki’s first priority was to put as little burden on her body as possible, the suspect Watanabe wanted to prolong her life by any means necessary. The last phone call I received from the suspect was three days before the incident. It was a consultation about her mother’s care. His voice sounded unconventional and indifferent.

On the evening of the 24th, the day of the last consultation with the person in charge, a neighbor witnessed Watanabe screaming in front of his apartment.

He was scratching his head and shouting, ‘Aah!　Why? Damn it! He was going back and forth on the same street. He also kicked the fence of a private house. When I tried to walk past him, his face turned red and he sneered at me and the kids. When I reflexively apologized, he yelled at me, “Get out of here! So I ran away. ……”

After the incident, many local residents visited the clinic where Mr. Suzuki was working to offer flowers. Mr. Suzuki rarely returned to his home in Tokyo, and was trying to save as many patients as possible.

From “FRIDAY” February 18, 2022