Reminder: Never ask the cops in Japan to shoot you

Man in Nagoya learns obvious lesson the hard way.

For most people, Sunday night is a quiet night, as the weekend winds down and they get back into the mental mode necessary for the coming week of work or school. However, last Sunday at around 10 p.m., a 47-year-old man in Nagoya’s Kaminagoya neighborhood was spotted trying to light a fire inside a parking structure.

A passerby noticed flames of some sort and called the police, who dispatched an officer who quickly arrived on scene, finding the suspect on the first floor of the building brandishing a knife. When he realized he’d been spotted, the suspect snarled “Shoot me if you can!” and retreated up to the higher floors.

The officer gave chase, and when they reached the third floor the suspect stopped running, and instead began advancing on the officer. The officer warned him to throw down his weapon, announcing “If you don’t drop the knife, I will shoot you.” Undeterred, the suspect continued advancing. When a warning shot fired at the suspect’s feet still didn’t stop him, the officer obliged the suspect’s request, and made good on his promise, by putting a bullet in the man’s lower abdomen.

▼ The building where the incident took place

Following the shooting, the man was arrested on the spot, although instead of being taken to jail he was transported to the hospital for medical treatment. He was conscious during the ambulance ride, and his life is in no danger.

The incident is similar to one that took place in Osaka a few years ago, when a man advancing on officers while holding a knife told them “If you’re going to shoot me, then do it already” and got a slug in the thigh for his tough talk. So remember, while Japanese police training includes something called taiho-jutsu, or “arresting martial arts techniques,” designed to subdue criminals in a low-impact, low-injury way, the cops will skip the grappling when dealing with someone with a dangerous weapon, especially someone who’s literally asking to get shot.

Source: Yahoo! Japan News/CBC TV via Otakomu, Yomiuri Shimbun Online
Top image: Pakutaso
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