Photo/Illutration Police investigators walk toward the home of suspect Kosuke Omoto in Tokyo’s Koto Ward on May 10. (Minami Endo)

A junior high school teacher in Tokyo, who was described as a “role model” by his principal, was arrested on suspicion of killing a 63-year-old man who lived near his school.

Kosuke Omoto, who was arrested on May 10, is suspected of slashing Masafumi Yamagishi in the face, neck and elsewhere at his home in Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward on Feb. 24, police said.

The victim’s home was about 170 meters from the school where the suspect was in charge of students with special needs.

Omoto, 36, who lives in the capital’s Koto Ward across the Arakawa river, denied the allegations.

He also denied knowing Yamagishi, a contract employee who was living with his mother, according to sources close to the investigation.

Yamagishi died of suffocation from his own blood, police said.

He was found lying on his back and holding the handle of a knife. The blade was missing and investigators suspect that Omoto may have taken it from the scene.

More than 10 stab wounds and incisions were found mainly in the upper half of the victim’s body, sources said.

Police tracked down the suspect after finding a man resembling Omoto dressed all in black in security camera footage taken in the neighborhood around the time of the attack, sources said.

A news conference was called on May 10 at Matsue No. 5 Junior High School, an institution run by Edogawa Ward, where Omoto worked.

Atsushi Aramaki, the principal, said Omoto’s arrest came as a complete surprise, describing him as a “role model for midcareer teachers.”

Omoto offered guidance in accordance with the disabilities and characteristics of individual students and built a good relationship with other teachers, Aramaki said.

According to the ward’s board of education, Omoto was employed as a teacher by the Tokyo metropolitan government in April 2010.

He was in charge of special needs classes at junior high schools outside Edogawa Ward for 12 years before he was transferred to Matsue No. 5 Junior High School in April 2022.

(This article was compiled from reports by Emi Iwata, Yuji Masuyama, Minami Endo and Ryohei Miyawaki.)

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