Police in Japan Investigate a Rare Mass Killing

6 were found dead in farmhouse
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 27, 2018 7:17 AM CST
6 Murdered in Japan Tourist Town
A bridge in Takochico, Miyazaki prefecture.   (Wikimedia/Thomas Au)

Police believe three generations of a family were murdered, possibly by one of its members, in a rare mass killing in Japan. Police say six people, five of them from the same family, were found dead in and around a farmhouse in the mountain town of Takachiho, which is a popular tourist destination on Kyushu island, the Guardian reports. The body of a seventh person, who had jumped or fallen from a nearby bridge, was discovered later, reports the AP. Police say the victims include 72-year-old farmer Yasuo Iihoshi, his wife, 66-year-old Mihoko Iihoshi, and Yui, their 7-year-old granddaughter.

The other victims have been named as the elderly couple's 21-year-old grandson Takumi, their daughter-in-law Mikiko, 41, and 44-year-old Fumiaki Matsuoka, a friend of the family, CNN reports. Police say they discovered the bodies after receiving a call from a worried relative who had been unable to contact the family. Police sources say all six victims were stabbed. The body found near the bridge is that of the couple's son, Masahiro Iihoshi, who had apparently driven there in the family car. Sources tell the Asahi Shimbun that that Matsuoka had been visiting the family to help them deal with domestic problems involving Masahiro. (In 2016, a man fatally stabbed 19 people at a center for the disabled in Japan's deadliest mass killing since World War II.)

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