Two gunmen opened fire Monday on gangsters and police meeting in the lobby of a Shinjuku hotel, killing a gangster and injuring a policeman and one other man.

Police suspect the bold daylight shooting is part of an ongoing feud between two gangs, the Kyokuto-kai and Matsuba-kai.

The gangster was identified as Ryoichi Tsuchihashi, 25, who is believed to be affiliated with Kyokuto-kai, a Tokyo-based crime syndicate. Tsuchihashi was shot in the head and died on the scene.

The policeman, a 44-year-old sergeant with the Metropolitan Police Department who was accompanying an assistant police inspector, was pistol-whipped outside the hotel just before the firing began.

The other man, who was not identified, was grazed in the head by a bullet.

The shooting took place at around 12:30 p.m. in the lobby of the Hotel SunLite, which is about 600 meters northeast of JR Shinjuku Station in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward.

According to police, a key gang member and other members associated with Kyokuto-kai were in the lobby meeting with investigators when one of the gunmen walked in and started firing at a man near the entrance.

The other assailant, meanwhile, began firing shots from outside the hotel.

After firing a total of three shots, one of the attackers fled on a motor scooter while the other escaped on foot, witnesses said.

One of the attackers was estimated to be between 35 and 40 years of age and about 165 cm tall. The other was only described as being dressed entirely in black, police said, adding that both sported close-cropped hair.

On March 11, a member of Kyokuto-kai shot and killed a Matsuba-kai member in Tochigi Prefecture, earning him a place on the police's wanted list.

Later Monday evening, shots were fired into the house of a Matsuba-kai-affiliated gang leader in Mooka, Tochigi Prefecture. Police suspect the shots were a reprisal for the murder in Shinjuku earlier in the day.

Kyokuto-kai and Matsuba-kai are some of the organizations designated as crime syndicates by prefectural public safety commissions that are charged with supervising local police forces.