A Tokyo police officer was shot in the left arm here Saturday during an apartment raid linked to yakuza and firearms, police officials said.
Two gunman and another man were inside the apartment but got away. The apartment, which is in a residential area west of Higashi Kanagawa Station on the JR Keihin Tohoku Line, was being used by a gang associated with the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate, the officials said.
No guns were found.
The police went to the first-floor apartment early Saturday morning after receiving a tip late Friday night that a handgun was inside, MPD officials said.
After two men arrived by taxi and entered the apartment, the officers, who did not have a search warrant, knocked on the door and tried to get in. But one of the men instead came out and locked the door, the officials said.
While one officer apparently was trying to prize open the door, three others went around to the balcony.
At around 5:20 a.m., the other man in the apartment fired a shot, injuring a 41-year-old assistant inspector.
The man outside the apartment fled during the confusion caused by the shooting.
Later, officers from the Kanagawa Prefectural Police arrived at the scene and surrounded the apartment, believing the other man was still holed up inside.
After evacuating the surrounding tenants, they stormed the apartment at around 7:50 a.m. only to find nobody there.