Gunman opens fire on 3 people in Yokohama, commits suicide

(Mainichi Japan) November 6, 2009

YOKOHAMA -- A gunman opened fire on three people on a street here on Friday afternoon, seriously injuring one of them, before barricading himself in an office and committing suicide, police said.

Kanagawa Prefectural Police said that the gunman, who identified himself as a gang member, suddenly fired at the three in front of a real estate company's office in Yokohama's Minami Ward at around 2:30 p.m. on Friday. All three were injured, one of them seriously.

The man was about 60 years old, and identified himself as Kenji Hayashi, a member of a gang affiliated with the Inagawa-kai yakuza group. He barricaded himself inside the office and later committed suicide.

The four were reportedly talking about the collection of a loan when the gunman shot the other three. The area where the shooting occurred is a residential district near Yoshinocho Station on the Yokohama Municipal Subway.