A company employee was stabbed to death early Sunday at a company dormitory in Sapporo, Hokkaido, setting off a search for a knife-wielding intruder who fled after attacking a caretaker there, police said.
The dead man was identified as Junichi Tani, 32, an employee of an engineering firm. Tani was found with multiple stab wounds to the chest and died shortly after being rushed to a hospital.
Tani was found in his room after Kimiko Horii, the dormitory's 67-year-old caretaker, was attacked by the assailant and tried to seek help, police said. Horii was slightly injured after trying to wrest the knife away from the man, police said.
The suspect was described by police as being about 165-cm tall and in his 20s, with bobbed hair and wearing black pantaloons. Since no traces of plundering were found in the victim's room, police are searching for a connection between the slaying and the company.
The dormitory is in a residential area some 2 km north of JR Sapporo Station. A 75-year-old neighbor reportedly told police he saw a man exiting the dormitory through a window at around 4:30 a.m.