Mayor of Nagasaki dies after being shot
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
On April 16 Itchō Itō, 61, mayor of Nagasaki City, was shot two times in the back. Mayor Itō died at 2:28 a.m. at the Nagasaki University Hospital.
Itō was shot by a man yesterday in front of his campaign office just across from the JR Nagasaki train station. One bullet hit his heart, sending him into cardiac arrest. The attack occurred around 7:50 p.m. local time in Nagasaki.
Authorities believe that organized crime is behind the shooting. Immediately after the shooting, police arrested on the crime scene Tetsuya Shiroo, 59, a deputy-leader of the underground organized crime unit, Suishin-kai, and senior member of Yamaguchi-gumi.
He reportedly had trouble with the city for failure to compensate for an accident that had occurred a few years ago in which his car had been damaged at a construction site operated by the city's public works department. Police say that during an interrogation Shiroo confessed to the shooting and his intent to kill Itō.
Itō is the fifth politician to be shot in Japan since World War II; a rare occurrence, because gun ownership is banned in Japan.
Sources
[edit]- Nagasaki city mayor is shot dead — BBC News Online, April 17, 2007
- Hiroko Tabuchi. Police: Japanese Mayor Shot by Mobster — Guardian Unlimited, April 17, 2007
- Nagasaki mayor critically wounded by gunman — Mainichi Daily News, April 17, 2007
- Associated Press. Japanese mayor shot outside train station — International Herald Tribune, April 17, 2007
- Nagasaki mayor Itoh shot — NHK Online, April 17, 2007
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