A mother and two children died Monday on a beach in Kamogawa, Chiba Prefecture, in an apparent murder-suicide, police said.
The mother, 38, her oldest daughter, 10, and her oldest son, 8, were found lying on Tojo Beach and a knife was also found at the scene. A man who was on the beach alerted police at around 11:30 a.m., saying he saw the mother stabbing the children. The names of the family, which is from Sodegaura, Chiba, have been withheld.
The woman's 4-year-old son was injured and taken to a hospital, the police said.
The woman's husband, 39, and the couple's 6-year-old daughter were also there but were not harmed. The father told investigators the family came to play on the beach.
According to the elementary school in Sodegaura attended by three of the children, a man who is apparently the father called the school at around 9 a.m. Monday and said the children would be absent "for family reasons."
A woman in her 50s whose daughter goes to the same school as the girl who was killed, expressed shock at the news.
"I'm so shocked that I can't even cry," she said. "I was not aware of any parenting problems with the family, and the husband was loving to his children."
A 47-year-old surfer said he heard cries for help from someone on the beach and rushed to the scene, and saw the woman and a boy lying on the beach.
"I gave a cardiac massage to the two and carried the boy to the parking lot on my surfboard," he said. "I'm so sorry that they are dead."