Photo/Illutration Police take Masanori Aoki from the Nakano Police Station on May 26. (Shinnosuke Ito)

NAKANO, Nagano Prefecture--The man suspected of going on a shooting and stabbing spree here said he was never personally acquainted with the two women who were killed in the rampage, police said.

Masanori Aoki, 31, said he lost control in anger when he assumed the two women were mocking him for constantly being alone, according to police.

The suspect’s mother had told police that she believed her son imagined that the two women were ridiculing him.

But Aoki said he never actually knew the two women, Yukie Murakami, 66, and Yasuko Takeuchi, 70, who were stabbed to death on May 25, according to police.

Police suspect Aoki had come to harbor an unjustified resentment against the two women.

Two police officers, Takuo Ikeuchi, 61, and Yoshiki Tamai, 46, were shot and killed after they responded to an emergency call about one of the women being attacked.

Aoki has been arrested on suspicion of murdering Ikeuchi. Tamai was fatally stabbed after being shot, police said.

“We’ll examine the outcome of the investigation and discuss steps to prevent incidents like this,” National Police Agency Commissioner General Yasuhiro Tsuyuki said on June 1.

(This article was written by Shingo Tsuru and Okuto Ko.)

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