NAKANO (Nagano Pref.): The 31-year-old man arrested over Thursday’s fatal stabbing and shooting incident in Nakano, Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, was found to have moved the body of the first stabbing victim to the premises of his house from a street, Jiji Press learned Sunday.

All of the four victims in the incident died immediately after being attacked and they all died from blood loss, investigative sources said.

In the incident, two women were knifed to death and two police officers were shot dead with a hunting rifle.

Masanori Aoki, arrested Friday on charges of shooting one of the two policemen to death, told investigators that he killed the women because he thought they had made fun of him suffering isolation, according to the sources.

The Nagano prefectural police believe that the suspect thought the women talked ill about him and developed a one-sided grudge against them, committing the premeditated murders.

The incident started around 4:25 p.m. Thursday (7:25 a.m. GMT).

In response to an emergency call made after Yukie Murakami, 66, was stabbed to death, the two police officers–Yoshiki Tamai, 46, and Takuo Ikeuchi, 61,–rushed to the crime scene and were shot dead. Yasuko Takeuchi, 70, the first stabbing victim, was also found dead. Aoki soon holed up in his house and surrendered around 4:30 a.m. Friday after being persuaded by the police.

Takeuchi and Murakami were apparently attacked when they were strolling together near Aoki’s house.

After attacking Takeuchi, Aoki used a wheelbarrow for agricultural work to move her body to the premises of his house from a street, apparently trying to hide the body, according to the sources.

Information from witnesses and others suggests that the suspect used a knife with a blade of some 30 centimeters long to first stab Takeuchi to death and chased after Murakami, who ran from the suspect, to stab her multiple times to death.

Aoki has told investigators that he shot the two policemen who arrived at the stabbing scene because he thought they would shoot him to death.

JIJI Press