In the early hours of July 26, 2016, a man with a knife broke into a facility for the disabled in southern Tokyo and assaulted him. Satoshi Uematsu and a former nursing home employee threatened staff and tied them up with zip ties to immobilize them during night shifts.
Uematsu woke up the inmates one after another, examined the degree of disability, and stabbed or cut the inmates who were judged to be severely disabled on the bed. In the end, 19 prisoners died and 24 were injured. After fleeing the care home, he turned himself in to the police.
This incident shocked Japan and even overseas. Of his motives, Uematsu argued that people with severe disabilities should be euthanized. There seems to be no clear evidence that Uematsu systematically absorbed specific ideas in developing his own extreme theory, and it is thought that Uematsu developed it almost independently.
While Uematsu’s attacks on nursing homes are not generally viewed as politically or ideologically motivated, his attempt to add theory to his views makes the case more compelling. Making it sinister. Such a theory would seem plainly irrational to anyone, but it’s enough to make his case contagious in igniting imitator fire.
