The man suspected of starting a fatal fire at a mental health clinic in the city of Osaka last week might have intended to copy a deadly 2019 arson attack at an animation studio in Kyoto, which also involved the purchase of gasoline before the incident, investigative sources said Tuesday.
Morio Tanimoto had left in his presumed living quarters in Osaka's Nishiyodogawa Ward a newspaper page with reporting on the studio of Kyoto Animation fire, which claimed 36 lives, prompting police to believe he might have decided to use a similar method after reading the article, the sources said.
The newspaper was from July this year, which reported about the two-year anniversary of the Kyoto arson attack, prompting police to believe that the suspect may have planned the arson from around this time.