Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito Shot Twice, Dies of Wounds
Just before 8:00 Tuesday evening, 61-year-old Itcho Ito became the second consecutive mayor of Nagasaki to be shot while holding that position. Unlike his predecessor, Hitoshi Motoshima, Ito unfortunately did not survive the shooting. It has been reported that one of the two bullets that hit him sliced through his heart. His death was officially announced at 2:28 Wednesday morning.
In 1990, Ito’s predecessor, Hitoshi Motoshima, was shot in front of Nagasaki city hall, and his shooter told police he was unhappy with Motoshima for saying that the Showa Emperor was responsible for the war.
Ito’s case does not seem to hold such political or symbolic significance. Rumors on Internet boards say that the shooter, 59-year-old Tetsuya Shiroo, has claimed to be upset about damage having been done to his car while driving past a city-run construction site. Kyodo tells us that Shiroo is the acting leader of the Suishin-kai group, which is affiliated with Japan’s largest organized crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi.
Claims of ‘car damage’ should thus be transparent to anyone who has spent some time in Japan, although it does seem odd for this time-honored extortionary tactic to be used in a political assassination.
At any rate, the story is still developing, and our goal was not to write a long piece about it, but rather to link to all videos of coverage that we could find on You Tube. I have arranged them with the most recent at the top of the post (in other words, videos that are pure coverage tend to be at the bottom of the post). So, without any further ado:
Thanks to Japan Probe for this one:
Someone’s cell phone footage?
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- KOREAN Man Goes on Killing Spree. What’s Up with Japanese TV News? KOREAN Man Goes on Killing Spree.
- A Woman Sings a Song for a Soldier Come Home - Wallace Stevens #4
- Debito.org Newsletter for October 20, 2007
- A Verdict in the Lucie Blackman Case, Local Elections, Abe to Washington, Defense Matters, and Domestic Violence Laws: TPR News for Tuesday, April 24, 2007
