Photo/Illutration Police investigators examine the neighborhood of the fatal shooting in Fujimino, Saitama Prefecture, on Jan. 29. (Sayuri Ide)

FUJIMINO, Saitama Prefecture--A gunman had demanded that nursing care providers visit his home on the same day that he shot and killed a doctor who could not resuscitate his dead mother, sources said.

The operator of the nursing care service declined the insistent demands of Hiroshi Watanabe, 66, who is expected to be charged with murder over the death of Junichi Suzuki, a 44-year-old physician who visited the house along with six others from his clinic in Fujimi, Saitama Prefecture, on Jan. 27.

Watanabe is believed to have summoned the clinic’s medical workers to his home over the death of his mother, 92.

The nursing care operator told The Asahi Shimbun that Watanabe’s mother had received its services a few years ago.

The operator said it received a call on Jan. 27 from Watanabe, who politely asked that some workers visit his house.

“I want to apologize to you because I still have not paid the money I owe you,” Watanabe was quoted as saying. “My mother passed away yesterday so please come to my house to collect the money.”

The worker who received the call told Watanabe that the company would send a bill to his home instead. His tone then became harsher.

“Pay respects to my mother,” he said, raising his voice.

Watanabe had also intimidated other medical workers over his mother’s treatment.

One doctor in Fujimino said Watanabe complained about the treatment policy for his mother around 2016.

“If you want to argue back, do so,” the doctor quoted Watanabe as saying at that time. “You are a negative doctor.”

The doctor recalled not challenging Watanabe just to avoid any involvement with him.

“Everyone becomes frail as they age, but he seemed to firmly believe that it would be not the case with his mother,” the doctor said.

The hospital where the doctor worked received an angry letter from Watanabe that said in part, “You should seriously reflect on yourself.”

Watanabe later turned to Suzuki for his mother’s medical care.

MOTHER CENTER OF HIS LIFE

In late 2018, on Suzuki’s request, the nursing care operator began looking after the mother.

When Watanabe moved to the house that he rented in Fujimino about three years ago, his mother was almost bed-ridden.

Watanabe called the operator nearly every day, regardless of the time. He asked staff to do something to “enable her to walk” and other things. Some of the calls carried on for more than an hour, and he sometimes asked for specific staff members to care for his mother, the sources said.

The operator stopped treating the mother after a few months out of fear for the staff’s safety.

Suzuki was fatally shot at the home after he rejected Watanabe’s request to resuscitate his dead mother with a heart massage, investigators said.

A physical therapist from the clinic was also shot and seriously injured. At least one other worker from the clinic was injured after Watanabe sprayed tear gas at them.

According to neighbors, Watanabe rarely associated with others in the community.

An acquaintance in his 40s described Watanabe as a devoted son.

“His mother was at the center of his life,” the man said. “Watanabe appeared to think that taking care of her was his purpose in life.”

When he visited Watanabe’s house, he was asked to use antisepsis to avoid causing any harm to the mother.

Before he moved to Fujimino, Watanabe lived with his mother in public housing in Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward in the late 1990s, according to an individual who knows him.

His two shotguns were apparently loaded before the visit by the clinic’s staff, according to investigative sources.

One of the shotguns was bought when Watanabe lived in Edogawa Ward. The vendor who sold the gun said Watanabe had made a down payment but still owed money for the weapon.

(This story was compiled from reports by Nobufumi Yamada, Shuichi Nimura, Tomoki Morishita and Ko Sendo.)

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