An autopsy on a 45-year-old man who was shot dead by police Saturday found evidence he had been on stimulants, police said Sunday.
Two officers shot Shinya Fukui in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, after he and another man allegedly tried to escape in a stolen sport utility vehicle.
Police said they found five syringes in the vehicle.
Four of the five shots fired at Fukui hit their target, police said. He died shortly after from chest wounds.
Another suspect, who was in the passenger seat of the SUV, ran off after the incident. He was being sought on suspicion of obstructing public duties and attempted murder.
The two officers, a 32-year-old sergeant and a 30-year-old senior officer assigned to the Semboku Police Station, were not hurt, and no passersby were injured by stray bullets, police said.
According to the police, an emergency call was made to police at around 8 a.m., saying a stolen SUV was parked on a street in Sakai.
When a squad car with the two officers approached the vehicle, it drove away. The officers chased the SUV and shot at it at an intersection about 2 km away.
The vehicle repeatedly backed up and drove in the opposite lanes, damaging 10 other cars. The senior officer who got out of the squad car to apprehend the men in the vehicle narrowly avoided being run over, the police said.
The man who ran away appeared to be in his 20s or 30s.