Pokemon shop employee stabbed to death in Tokyo’s commercial district
Both the attacker and the victim were taken to hospital and later pronounced dead.
A Pokémon shop employee has been stabbed to death in a store in central Tokyo, before the attacker turned the knife on himself.
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Officers rushed to the scene in a popular shopping centre after receiving an emergency call reporting a rampage by a knife-wielding man.
Police said the woman, who was stabbed in the neck, was in her 20s and believed to be an employee at the Pokémon store on the second floor of the Sunshine City building, which houses shops and offices.
The attacker then stabbed himself in the neck, Tokyo police said.
Both the attacker and the victim were in a critical condition when they were taken to hospital and were later pronounced dead.
Police said they are investigating the attack as murder.
A man who was at the Pokémon shop, which was crowded with dozens of customers, including children, said that he ran out when he heard a woman screaming for help and the noise of shelves crashing down to the floor.
When he turned back, he saw a staff member with blood stains on his shirt and a man wearing black clothes forcing his way into a sales counter.
Japan's NHK public television said shoppers fled the area while employees in nearby stores pulled down the shutters for safety.
Japan has strict gun control laws, and violent crimes are rare, but there have been several high-profile knife attacks in recent years.