Aerial video footage shows the Toda Chuo General Hospital in Toda, Saitama Prefecture, the Warabi Post Office in Warabi in the same prefecture and the suspect’s apartment building in Toda after a fire on Oct. 31. (Kazuhiro Ichikawa)

Photo/Illutration Police officers on the lookout outside the Warabi Post Office in Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, where a gunman holed up, on the night of Oct. 31 (Hikaru Uchida)

WARABI, Saitama Prefecture—An 86-year-old man upset over a traffic accident and a hospital examination set fire to his home, shot two people and held two women hostage at a post office, investigative sources said.

The gunman, Tsuneo Suzuki, was arrested after police officers wearing face guards and protective clothing stormed the Warabi Post Office around 10:20 p.m. on Oct. 31 and ended the eight-hour standoff.

Suzuki has admitted to his involvement in the shooting incident earlier in the day at the Toda Chuo General Hospital in the neighboring city of Toda, in which two people were wounded, the sources said.

He also said he was behind the fire that broke out at his apartment building in Toda.

In mid-October last year, Suzuki’s motorcycle collided with a motorcycle of a Warabi Post Office worker.

Suzuki apparently held a grudge because the collision was treated as a property damage accident, not as a personal injury accident, the sources said.

When he holed up in the Warabi Post Office, Suzuki demanded to speak with the postmaster and a police officer in charge of the traffic accident, the sources said.

Saitama prefectural police arrested Suzuki on suspicion of violating the hostage compulsion punishment law and seized a gun, more than 10 bullets and other items he was carrying.

Suzuki brought two blades, an 18-liter polyethylene tank and two 500-milliliter plastic bottles with him into the post office, the sources said.

He said the tank and the plastic bottles contained gasoline, and police plan to analyze the liquid.

Two female post office workers taken hostage were unharmed in the incident.

Suzuki released one of the workers, in her 20s, after about five hours. The other worker, in her 30s, escaped outside before police stormed the post office.

During the hostage-taking, Suzuki responded to a police officer over the phone in a calm manner, the sources said.

GUNMAN FLEES ON MOTORCYCLE

The fire at Suzuki’s apartment building broke out around 1 p.m., police said. No one was injured.

The shooting incident occurred about 15 minutes later at the Toda Chuo General Hospital, about 1.5 km southeast of Suzuki’s home.

Suzuki told police that he was dissatisfied with an examination at the hospital, the sources said.

Glass was broken in a first-floor examination room, and a doctor in his 40s and a patient in his 60s who were inside the room were injured after being grazed by bullets, investigators said.

Their wounds were not life-threatening.

A person with a gun was seen riding away on a motorcycle, the sources said.

A female hospital worker said she heard a dry, cracking sound and she thought it was a flat tire on a wheelchair.

But soon after, an in-hospital broadcast asked people to remain inside the rooms they were in, while outpatients were told to return home early.

Around 2:30 p.m., Warabi city’s emergency radio broadcast system told residents, “A suspect is fleeing on a motorcycle with a gun” and “A suspect has fled to Warabi and is holed up inside a post office.”

The Warabi Post Office is about 1.5 km north of the hospital.

A woman in her 40s said that from the outside she could see a man inside the post office, pacing back and forth in front of a counter.

She heard police officers shouting, “Put your gun down” and “Put your hands in the air.”

Around 3 p.m., a “bang” sound of gunfire was heard. She said it was like a loud firecracker.

‘KIND AND NICE’

A man in his 70s said he sometimes drank with Suzuki in his apartment, but he never saw a gun or anything dangerous there.

“We were always making small talk,” said the man, who lives near Suzuki’s home. “He is a kind and nice person as a friend.”

A woman in her 40s who lives near Suzuki’s apartment said she saw him busily entering and leaving his apartment from the morning on Oct. 31.

She heard his footsteps leaving his apartment around 1 p.m., and a short time later, black smoke emerged with a “boom” sound.

When the woman went outside, she saw fire from his apartment.

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