Stop or I’ll shoot! A police officer opens fire… The whole scene of a “big catch” in a residential area in Setagaya Ward.

He drove a light truck into a police car.

Around 8:30 in the morning of May 12, one young man showed up from the Kitazawa Police Station of the Metropolitan Police Department to be sent off for inspection. In contrast to his mature appearance, which still had an innocent look to it, he was staring at the camera with sharp eyes. Why did he act in such a way as to cause the police officer to open fire?

At around 6:40 p.m. on October 10, Yuto Kobayashi, 20, of unknown address and occupation, was arrested for obstructing a police officer on a street in Wakabayashi, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, and for making a sudden start after the officer stopped him.

According to the Kitazawa Police Department, at around 6:20 p.m. on October 10, a male sergeant and others from the Regional Division spotted a light truck, which was wanted by the Metropolitan Police Department as a suspicious vehicle, and followed it with a patrol car for about five minutes. The light truck fled into a residential alley, but was unable to pass a vehicle coming from the opposite direction and came to a standstill. However, as the police officer approached, the light truck suddenly backed up and hit the police car that was following behind.

Another police officer jumped on the back of the truck to stop it, but the light truck sped off, made a right turn, and slammed into a utility pole. The police officer in the back of the truck judged the situation to be dangerous and warned, “Stop or I’ll shoot! Stop or I’ll shoot! The truck still attempted to flee, so the officer fired shots near the driver’s seat. Kobayashi and a 17-year-old boy who was a passenger in the car were arrested.

The bullet is believed to have hit the ceiling of the driver’s seat, but no one was injured as a result of the shooting. The suspect was slightly injured when he hit a utility pole and struck his face, and he gave a vague statement when questioned. The 17-year-old boy has since been released.

The arrest of Kobayashi was only for obstruction of justice, in which the suspect attempted to flee by crashing his car into a police car. The incident seems to have been reported more widely because the police officer fired shots. Was it the fact that the car was wanted as a suspicious vehicle that made it such a big arrest and finally led to the shooting? Former Kanagawa Prefectural Police detective and crime journalist Taihei Ogawa asked.

He said, “It doesn’t matter whether it was a suspicious vehicle or an ordinary car. They must have fired at the police officer after warning him because they judged that it was an act of attempted murder. In the first place, it is a rare situation where you have to stop a car until you get on the back of it. In addition, the driver repeatedly sped off without stopping, which is enough to make a police officer feel that he is in danger.

However, if there was only a report of a suspicious vehicle, or if the Metropolitan Police Department had made arrangements, there must have been some suspicion or some other good reason.

There are some reports that the light truck was also occupied by someone other than the two suspects. Why did Kobayashi go to such lengths to escape from the police officers? The investigation is still awaiting further developments.