A 17-year-old high school boy arrested Saturday in the baseball bat bludgeoning of pedestrians in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward has told investigators that he carried out the attack because he had been beaten by his father and had wanted to embarrass him by attacking others, police said Monday.

It was also learned that a police officer visited the boy's home the previous evening after the boy and his father had fought.

One person was seriously hurt and seven others sustained minor injuries during the violent Saturday spree, which started in a Shibuya Station lavatory at around 9:10 p.m. and continued on nearby streets, police said.

The boy, whose name is being withheld under the Juvenile Law, was turned over to prosecutors Monday, police said. Investigators may have the youth undergo a psychiatric evaluation to find out if he is competent to stand trial.

The boy, who lives with his parents and an elder sister in Yokohama, was repeatedly violent at home, mainly toward his 52-year-old mother, police said.

The mother was quoted by police as saying the boy respects his father, a 52-year-old publishing company employee, and was not usually violent in his presence.

But a police officer visited the boy's home Friday night after a family member called to report that the youth and his father were fighting, it was learned Monday.

After being bullied by classmates in his third or fourth year in elementary school, the boy refused to attend school regularly, his mother was quoted by police as saying.

The boy's high school teacher told reporters Monday that the boy may not have any close friends at school.

"I have never seen the boy chatting with classmates in the classroom," the teacher said.

The boy is taking a correspondence course that requires his presence in school twice a month, the teacher said.