Photo/Illutration Tsuneo Suzuki is taken to the Warabi Police Station in Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, on the night of Oct. 31. (Kotaro Ebara)

WARABI, Saitama Prefecture—The 86-year-old suspect in a shooting incident and a hostage drama had previous connections with an organized crime group, according to investigative sources.

Tsuneo Suzuki was arrested on the night of Oct. 31 after police stormed the Warabi Post Office where two female employees had been held hostage.

Suzuki was carrying a handgun along with roughly a dozen bullets, the sources said.

Police are investigating where he obtained the weapons.

He may have gotten them through his earlier yakuza ties and kept them secretly for several years, the sources said.

He had also brought two blades, two polyethylene tanks, two plastic bottles containing what he said was gasoline and several lighters to the post office, the sources said.

Police suspect Suzuki was frustrated over an accident in mid-October last year in which his motorcycle collided with a motorcycle driven by a Warabi Post Office worker.

Suzuki was apparently angry that the incident was treated as a property damage accident and not a personal injury accident, they said.

“I wanted to talk to a person from the post office,” investigators quoted Suzuki as saying after his arrest. “I took those who failed to escape as hostages.”

During the standoff, Suzuki demanded to talk with the postmaster and the police officer in charge of the collision case.

He remained holed up for around eight hours. One of the hostages was released, while the other one escaped. They were both unharmed.

Earlier on Oct. 31, Suzuki fired shots at the Toda Chuo General Hospital in the neighboring city of Toda, according to police. A doctor and a patient suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.

Investigators said Suzuki has admitted to being involved in the shooting, as well as an earlier fire that broke out at his apartment building in Toda.

CUSTOMER SAYS GUNMAN CALM, SILENT

A woman in her 70s who was inside the Warabi Post Office at the time of the incident said she initially thought it was a police drill.

She visited the post office just after 2 p.m. to mail a letter. She and another person were the only customers there at the time.

About 15 minutes later, when she was handing the letter to a worker at the counter, she heard a loud “bang.”

She said she saw a man holding what looked like a handgun near the main entrance 5 or 6 meters away, and he was already surrounded by several police officers.

“Don’t shoot,” the officers shouted at him.

He did not point the gun at anyone, she said.

Seeing the calm and silent demeanor of the man, the woman said she thought he might be playing the role of a criminal in a drill.

However, post office staff beckoned her to crouch beneath the counter.

She followed their instructions and escaped to the outside where many police officers had gathered.

After seeing some of the officers holding large nets, she realized it was a real incident.

“It’s still scary when I think back to it,” the woman said. “I’m relieved no one was injured.”

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