One of three male teenagers arrested on suspicion of fatally stabbing a 13-year-old boy along the Tama River in Kawasaki has told police that the ringleader threatened him, too, with death, investigative sources said Sunday.
"At knife-point, I was told 'I will also kill you,' " the sources quoted one of the group's two 17-year-old suspects as saying. He also said he had tried to stop the assault on victim Ryota Uemura.
He and the other 17-year-old have told the police that it was the 18-year-old leader of their group who assaulted Uemura, the sources said. The names of all three are being withheld as they are minors.