Photo/Illutration Police officers head to the crime scene in Fujimino, Saitama Prefecture, to continue their investigation on Jan. 29 following the incident that ended in the morning of the day before. (Sayuri Ide)

FUJIMINO, Saitama Prefecture--A man who fatally shot a doctor after he refused to try to resuscitate his dead mother told police he contemplated killing other staff from the clinic as well as himself, according to investigative sources.

“I lost all hope for my future after my mother’s death, so I thought about killing not just myself, but also the doctor and other members of the staff,” he was quoted as saying.

Police on Jan. 29 referred the case to public prosecutors for indictment for murder. 

The suspect, Hiroshi Watanabe, 66, was arrested Jan. 28 after police stormed his home where he held the doctor, Junichi Suzuki, hostage, ending an 11-hour crisis that flared the evening before.

Suzuki ran a clinic that provides medical care to patients who cannot visit doctors for treatment. Watanabe’s mother, who was 92, was one of their patients.

Police found no signs indicating Watanabe had inflicted self harm to end his life, the sources said.

Suzuki, 44, was killed with a shotgun and died of cardiac rupture almost instantly after a bullet fired from close range pierced his chest, an autopsy showed.

Watanabe lived with his mother. The clinic had been providing treatment for the past several years.

His mother died on Jan. 26 and her death was confirmed by Suzuki.

Watanabe fired at least three shots. He told investigators he shot Suzuki on the night of Jan. 27 after the doctor spurned his plea to give his mother a heart massage to resuscitate her on grounds she was already dead.

Her body was laid out in a room, according to the sources.

Watanabe said he first shot Suzuki and then aimed his gun at a 41-year-old physical therapist, wounding him near the chest and causing a serious injury.

Suzuki and six other workers at the clinic visited Watanabe’s home around 9 p.m. on Jan. 27 after receiving a call from him asking them to pay their respects to his mother. Watanabe was specific about the time.

Watanabe is believed to have had two shotguns in his possession as well as tear gas spray. A survival knife was also discovered at the scene, the sources said.

The Higashi-Iruma doctors’ association in Fujimino and other sources said Watanabe called Suzuki’s clinic on more than 10 occasions between January 2021 and Jan. 24 this year about therapeutic measures for his mother.

Watanabe’s mother was bed-ridden and unable to eat on her own, but her son hoped to be able to continue to care for her at their home.

Suzuki informed him that one option was to feed her using a gastrostomy tube. However, he cautioned that she would eventually require hospitalization as the procedure is invasive.

When police exhorted him over the phone to surrender during the night, Watanabe said he “wanted to complain to the doctor and other workers” and “make them apologize,” according to the sources.

A third worker, who is in his 30s, suffered injuries around his eye.

Members of staff at the clinic said Watanabe had yelled at them occasionally, the sources added.

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