Stabbing in Japan today: Man with knives stabs kids at bus stop near Noborito Park in Kawasaki City outside Tokyo — live updates – CBS News

Kawasaki, Japan — A man carrying a knife in each hand and screaming “I will kill you” attacked schoolgirls waiting at a bus stop just outside Tokyo on Tuesday, leaving three people dead, including the attacker, and wounding 16 others, Japanese authorities and media said.

Most of the victims were schoolgirls between six- and-12-years-old who were lined up at a bus stop near Noborito Park in the city of Kawasaki when the man, apparently in his 50s, began slashing them with knives.

Masami Arai, an official at the Kawasaki city office, told The Associated Press three people, including the attacker, were believed killed and 16 others, most of them schoolgirls, were wounded. Arai said three of the wounds were serious and 13 others were not life-threatening.

NHK national television, quoting police, said the suspect died after stabbing himself in the neck at the scene and was unconscious when he was detained. Police wouldn’t immediately confirm the specifics of that report.

According to the Reuters news service, NHK also said the girl who was killed was aged 12 and the man who was killed was 39.

President Trump offered his sympathy as he toured Japan’s largest warship, the Kaga, as he concluded his 4-day state visit to Japan.

“On behalf of the First Lady and myself, I want to take a moment to send our prayers and sympathy to the victims of the stabbing attack this morning in Tokyo,” Mr. Trump said. “All Americans stand with the people of Japan and grieve the victims and for their families.”

Most of the victims attended a nearby school founded by Soeurs de la Charite de Quebec, an organization of Catholic nuns in Quebec City in Canada.

A witness told the Mainichi newspaper that he heard children shrieking after walking past a bus, and when he turned around, he saw a man wielding a knife in each hand, screaming “I will kill you” and several children were on the ground.

NHK, citing police, said a bus driver told officials that a man holding a knife in each hand walked toward the bus and started slashing children. NHK also interviewed a witness who said he saw the suspect trying to force his way onto a bus.

The attacker’s identity and motives weren’t immediately known.

Television footage showed emergency workers giving first aid to people inside an orange tent set up on the street, and police and other officials carrying the injured to ambulances.

Although Japan has one of the lowest crime rates in the world, it has had a series of high-profile killings, including in 2016 when a former employee at a home for the disabled allegedly killed 19 and injured more than 20 others.

In 2008, seven people were killed by a man who slammed a truck into a crowd of people in central Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics district and then stabbed passers-by.

Also in 2016, a man stabbed four people at a library in northeastern Japan, allegedly over their mishandling of his questions. No one was killed.