Hokkaido police arrested a 24-year-old man early Thursday over the fatal stabbing of two small children and the wounding of their 6-year-old sister during a burglary attempt the previous afternoon.
Kazuyuki Oikawa, a neighbor, turned himself in to local police at around 3:35 p.m. Wednesday and owned up to the break-in and attack, police in the southern Hokkaido coastal town of Hiroo said.
Oikawa, wearing a ski mask, broke into the house of Hajime Kikuchi, a 45-year-old company employee, at around 2:30 p.m. and stabbed the three children with a knife he found in the kitchen after ordering them to stay quiet, police said.
The children's parents were away at the time.