A 16-year-old high school boy was stabbed to death and a high school girl was wounded by a man on a riverbank in Nobeoka, Miyazaki Prefecture, early Thursday, police said.
Police said a 20-year-old man living nearby was a material witness in the attack. The man was found unconscious at his home Thursday morning, apparently having taken a large number of sleeping pills, and is being treated at a hospital.
Police said they will question the man after he regains consciousness, noting they found a bloodied knife in his room. They suspect he stabbed Kazuyuki Morishige and the girl, also 16, in the back while they were chatting on the riverbank with three other high school girls at around 12:45 a.m. Thursday.