A 44-year-old man held for alleged shoplifting at a shopping mall snatched a gun from a police officer during questioning and fired two shots, the police said. No one was injured.
The rare incident took place on Friday at around 3 p.m. in an Aeon shopping center in Onojo, Fukuoka Prefecture, according to the police.
The suspect, Kenji Nomura, was taken into custody at the scene.
The police officer was leaving a mall office with Nomura to take him to a police station when the suspect resisted and grabbed his gun, the police said.
Two police officers and two security guards were in the room at the time.