A 61-year-old man suspected of starting a fire at a psychiatric clinic in Japan, which left 25 people dead on December 17, died in hospital on Thursday December 30, police said.
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Morio Tanimoto was in critical condition with burns and carbon monoxide poisoning after the fire in Osaka (western Japan). “The suspect is dead todayA local police investigator told AFP.
The man – a former patient at the clinic – died without being questioned by police, state broadcaster NHK said, citing sources familiar with the investigation into the particularly deadly fire. The fire had raged for half an hour, ravaging the third floor of a small commercial building where the psychiatric clinic was located, which also provided general medical care.
According to Japanese media, most of the victims suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning and may have been trapped in smoke inside the clinic whose exit was blocked. On December 20, an Osaka police investigator told AFP that CCTV footage from the clinic appeared to show a man igniting liquid at the scene. Institutional cameras captured him carrying paper bags and placing them on the floor at the entrance. “Then something resembling liquid escapes from the bags“, the man “crouches on the ground and is seen performing a movement with his hands before flames erupt“, Added the investigator.
Repeated arson attacks
According to local media reports, Morio Tanimoto worked in the metallurgy and enjoyed a good professional reputation, with a former employer describing to the Jiji News Agency “a serious and responsible person“Including the”work was excellent“. The life of this father of two boys, married to a nurse, would have turned upside down after his divorce in 2008, anonymous testimonies having described to the daily Yomiuri his expensive penchant for horse racing.
Several Japanese media have also reported that Morio Tanimoto was arrested in 2011 for attempted murder after being accused of stabbing his son in the head. AFP could not verify this information. Police said they seized a container from the suspect’s home that had contained gasoline, which could be linked to another investigation. A small fire was also reported at Morio Tanimoto’s home on the day of the tragedy in the psychiatric clinic, according to media reports.
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A year ago, a man was charged with murder following an arson attack in July 2019 at an animation studio in Kyoto (west) that left 36 people dead, the deadliest crime in Japan in decades. decades. In 2008, an arson attack on a video rental store in Osaka left 16 people dead. The perpetrator of the attack was sentenced to death. Nobuo Komiya, professor and criminology expert at Taisho University in Tokyo, told AFP that the repeated arson attacks could be partly linked to Japan’s very strict gun laws.
“One difference to note between Japan and countries like the United States is that Japan has strict gun control laws. So, if a criminal is mad at something, one of the easiest ways to act violently in Japan is to start a fire. In the United States, the easiest way would be to use a gun», Noted this specialist.