Photo/Illutration A woman offers a silent prayer at the site of a stabbing rampage in Kawasaki’s Tama Ward on May 28. (Hikaru Uchida)

KAWASAKI--Mourners one after another visited the bus stop where a stabbing rampage occurred one year ago here to remember the victims, which included a pupil of a local private elementary school.

On May 28, 2019, wielding a knife in each hand, suspect Ryuichi Iwasaki, 51, ambushed a line of mainly pupils of Caritas Elementary School waiting to board their usual bus at the stop in Kawasaki’s Tama Ward.

Hanako Kuribayashi, an 11-year-old sixth-grader at the school, and Foreign Ministry employee Satoshi Oyama, 39, the father of another pupil at the Catholic school, were killed in the attack.

Iwasaki stabbed 18 others, seriously wounding many of the victims. He died of self-inflicted injuries immediately after the rampage.

At around 7:40 a.m., when the attack took place, school officials laid flowers at the site near JR Noborito Station.

A mother in her 50s who lives nearby offered a silent prayer for the victims with her husband. She said her daughter used the bus stop to attend the school.

“I’m overwhelmed with sadness when I think about the feelings of the bereaved families,” the woman said, her voice shaking. “I’m praying they can somehow find even a little peace.”

A memorial Mass was conducted in the morning that day at the school. A prayer bouquet was placed on the altar with messages from all 645 pupils of the school attached. The pupils and teachers took part in the Mass online as a precaution against the novel coronavirus infections.

Satoru Shitori, vice principal of the school, told The Asahi Shimbun on May 27, “We’ll hold the Mass to mark the first anniversary of the rampage with a determination that we’ll never forget. At the Mass, we also want to express gratitude that our pupils were able to attend the school without any incidents for the year (from the rampage).”

After the attack, the school started staggering the arrival times for its pupils by grade to avoid forming a long line at bus stops. The school said 1,882 counseling sessions were carried out as of March to provide the pupils with psychological care.

In September, Kanagawa prefectural police sent papers to prosecutors against Iwasaki on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and carrying knives, a violation of the swords and firearms control law.

But the Yokohama District Court dismissed the case because of the death of Iwasaki. The motive of the suspect, who had been socially reclusive, remains unknown.

(This article was written by Shun Hayashi and Shuya Iwamoto.)