Police were trying to persuade the suspect in a fatal Monday shooting at a construction company in the city of Wakayama to surrender and end the standoff at an apartment building on Wednesday morning.
Yasuhide Mizobata, 45, a former employee of the company and the second son of the company's president, has two guns and fired an apparent warning shot at around 6:40 a.m. from the apartment where he has barricaded himself in. No one was injured.
He also pointed a gun at himself a few times but has been talking to the police.
Mizobata locked himself in the apartment near the company and the police blocked the surrounding area.
They obtained an arrest warrant for Mizobata on suspicion of murder and attempted murder for the shooting Monday morning that left one dead, one unconscious and two seriously wounded.
The police late Tuesday found him but he got away after firing shots, they said.
Yet they tracked him down around 1 a.m. Wednesday and have been trying to get him to surrender.
According to investigators, security footage showed Mizobata leaving the company shortly after the shootings and heading toward a car in the parking lot.
Mizobata was recently convicted under the Stimulant Control Law and was supposed to have been taken to prison Monday. At the time of the shootings, he was still out on bail.
