About 20 people were injured at a luxury shopping complex in central Tokyo on Monday after a man sprayed an unknown substance inside the building, officials in Japan said.
Incident Details
A Tokyo police spokesperson said a man sprayed a substance at an ATM on the ground floor of the mall in the upscale Ginza district. A local fire department official reported that "around 20 people were injured" following complaints of a "smell." The road in front of the mall was blocked off, and fire trucks lined the street. However, shoppers continued to use side entrances.
An AFP reporter at the scene saw two people on stretchers being placed into an ambulance. Firefighters and officials in hazmat suits brought individuals from the mall to specialized trucks for examination. Public broadcaster NHK described the injuries as seemingly light.
Witness Account
A 70-year-old woman at the mall told NHK that her throat began "stinging and hurting" as she approached the ATM. "By the time I arrived, the commotion had already started, and I thought there might have been a small fire or something," she said. "Once I went into the ATM corner, my throat felt scratchy, almost numb."
Investigation
A fire department officer at the scene confirmed that police are investigating the cause of the incident. Violent crime is relatively rare in Japan, which has a low murder rate and strict gun laws. However, stabbings and occasional shootings do occur, including the 2022 assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
In December last year, 14 people were injured in a stabbing attack at a factory in central Japan, where an unspecified liquid was also sprayed. The memory of the 1995 Aum Shinrikyo subway sarin gas attack, which killed 14 and sickened over 5,800, still resonates in Japan.
This is a developing news story.
