A 29-year-old man charged with committing a murder in July in Tokyo was served a fresh warrant Monday in connection with a slaying in 2000, police said.
Tomohiro Fujii, of no fixed address or known job, has told investigators he was “targeting people who appeared to be weak,” police said.
According to the Akabane Police Station, Fujii fatally stabbed Koichi Tamada, 67, with a knife in front of the victim’s apartment in Kita Ward early Sept. 5, 2000.
Tamada was stabbed more than 30 times in the chest and elsewhere on his body.
“I was looking for somebody to kill, when I happened to find Tamada,” police quoted Fujii as saying.
Just before the slaying, area residents had complained to police that the tires of their vehicles had been slashed. Fujii has told police he was responsible for that as well, the officials said.
Fujii was arrested in October on suspicion of killing Toraichi Saito, 76, in neighboring Itabashi Ward in a park on July 18, using a folding knife to stab him in the neck and elsewhere. Saito had been taking a walk in the park.
Because the two slayings occurred only 3 km apart and appeared similar, police suspected Fujii was also behind the Kita Ward murder.
In both killings, the victims’ belongings appeared to have been left untouched.
“I was targeting people who looked weak. I might have killed more people if I hadn’t been caught for the Itabashi murder. In that sense, I feel relieved now,” Fujii was quoted as telling police.
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