Tokyo – Eight people were injured in a hammer attack at a Tokyo university on Friday, with a 22-year-old student arrested at the scene, Japanese media reported. All of the injured were conscious, according to public broadcaster NHK, which cited police sources as saying the afternoon attack took place at Hosei University's Tama Campus.
NHK and other media reported that the attacker, a female sociology student, had brandished a hammer in class. Several reports said people were seen bleeding from the head and that the woman had said she was frustrated by the attention. The woman was reportedly arrested at the scene.
Police did not immediately confirm the details of what appeared to be a rare violent crime in Japan.
STR/JIJI Press/AFP/Getty
Live video broadcast by NHK showed a line of emergency vehicles with flashing lights at the campus in the Japanese capital's suburban Machida district.
There are occasional hunts and even hunts in Japan, including the the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022. The murder by homemade gun shocked Japan, where gun control is a big deal and violence of any kind, but especially gun violence, is rare.
Hosei University was founded in 1880 as a law school and has 15 faculties, according to its website.
In December, a young high school student was stabbed to death and another was injured at a McDonald's restaurant in southwestern Japan. A man was arrested after the attack. The teenagers were following an order around 8:30pm when the attacker reportedly entered the restaurant in the city of Kitakyushu and stabbed them both.
In January 2022, three people were stabbed outside the prestigious University of Tokyo before college entrance exams across the country. The victims included an 18-year-old boy, a 17-year-old girl and a 72-year-old man, police said at the time.
