A former Self-Defense Forces member was sentenced to life in prison Friday for killing an officer in a police box in the city of Toyama, in central Japan, in 2018 before using the officer's gun to shoot dead a security guard at a nearby school.
The Toyama District Court sentenced Keita Shimazu, 24, to life imprisonment, rather than imposing the death penalty as had been sought by prosecutors, ruling that Shimazu did not commit murder-robbery in the assault on the police officer.
"His intention to steal the handgun might have arisen after he killed the police officer," Presiding Judge Taihei Omura said.