Video game maker Konami employee tries to kill old boss with fire extinguisher

Says he wanted to kill former manager “in order to live.”

Video and card game maker Konami Digital Entertainment’s headquarters is in Ginza, one of the fanciest parts of Tokyo. Moreover, it’s inside the Ginza 6 building, which houses a shopping/restaurant complex filled with brand-name fashions and fine dining options on its lower floors.

So you might expect the working environment inside Konami’s offices to be refined and elegant, or at least polished and polite. And maybe it is, on most days. But on Tuesday, one Konami employee decided to settle his differences with another member of the staff by braining him with a fire extinguisher.

At around 11 a.m. on April 11, 41-year-old Hiroki Yamazaki picked up a fire extinguisher in the Konami office and walked over to the desk of his former manager, a 48-year-old man. Yamazaki and the manager hadn’t worked directly with each other since August of 2020, when poor interpersonal relations between the two led to Yamazaki being transferred to a different team, with a different manager, in the same department.

Two and a half years later, though, it seems the two men hadn’t buried the hatchet, so instead Yamazaki tried to bury the fire extinguisher into the back of his old boss’ head. After walking up behind the manager while he was working, Yamazaki swung the cannister down onto his cranium before being subdued by nearby employees.

The manager survived the attack but suffered injuries, and Yamazaki has now been placed under arrest for attempted murder. Maybe some would argue that assault would be the more appropriate charge, but Yamazaki himself readily admits that he was trying to kill his target. “He power harassed me, so in order to live, I hit him with the intent to kill him.” The company, meanwhile, has denied that Yamazaki was harassed.

Following the incident, Konami Digital Entertainment dismissed Yamazaki from his job, so even if he isn’t convicted, he’ll need to look for a new line of work. That’s probably for the best, though, because “Hey, aren’t you the guy who tried to kill someone last week?” would make for some very awkward office small talk.

Sources: Mainichi Shimbun via Livedoor News via Hachima Kiko, Saitama Shimbun, The Sankei News, Nitele News
Top image: Wikipedia/100yen (edited by SoraNews24)
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