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PAST BULLYING CLAIMED
School stabber harbored grudge
OSAKA (Kyodo) A 17-year-old youth who stabbed three staff members, one fatally, at his former elementary school Monday in Neyagawa, Osaka Prefecture, was acting on a grudge against a teacher, according to investigative sources.
The teen said his sixth-grade homeroom teacher at Neyagawa Chuo Elementary School had failed to help him when he was bullied as a pupil there, the sources said Tuesday.
He was quoted as saying that he did not intend to kill anyone and that he "acted wrongly." The youth cannot be named because he is a minor.
The teacher, who still works at the school, has told police that he has no idea why the teen harbors ill feelings toward him, the sources said.
Police said they have been unable to confirm if the boy was bullied. He had not previously attempted to contact his old teacher after graduation.
About an hour before the stabbings, a male believed to be the youth rang the doorbell of the main school entrance and asked about the former homeroom teacher, police said. The teacher did not go to meet the visitor, they said.
The sources said that investigators are treating the teen's comments with skepticism; they think it is strange that he returned to the school five years after graduation to attack staff with no direct connection to the alleged bullying, the sources said.
Because the youth also apparently made incoherent statements, police are considering having him undergo a summary psychiatric test, they added.
Investigative sources also quoted the youth as saying that from last year, he had been undergoing counseling for people who had been absent from school for extended periods. The boy, who is not currently enrolled in any school, had reportedly been absent often while in junior high school.
According to investigators, the teen entered the school just after 3 p.m. Monday.
He approached teacher Michiaki Kamozaki, 52, in a first-floor hallway and asked for directions to the staff room. As Kamozaki led him to the second-floor room, the teen stabbed him in the back with a sashimi knife, police said. Initial reports had said that Kamozaki was attacked in the schoolyard.
The boy then stabbed teacher Mizue Tomomura, 57, and dietitian Akemi Fukushima, 45, in the staff room. Both were seriously wounded.
When he was seized by police who rushed to the school, the teen reportedly said he "did not know" what he was doing, according to the sources.
He appeared to be emotionally agitated right after his arrest, but is now calmly responding to questions from investigators, the sources said.
A probe revealed that the youth purchased two knives Monday, one of which was used in the attacks. His bag, which was found in a school corridor, contained the other knife, sheaths and a receipt for the knives.
The manager of a noodle eatery near the school said the teen ate at the shop shortly past 2 p.m. Monday -- roughly an hour before the attack. After eating "udon," the boy did nothing and appeared to be engrossed in thought for around 20 minutes before leaving just before 3 p.m.
On Tuesday, investigators combed the school compound to better determine the youth's actions.
Classes were canceled but about 30 teachers and staff came to work as usual.
The municipal board of education held an emergency meeting Tuesday morning to discuss ways to deal with potential emotional problems suffered by pupils and staff.
No pupils witnessed the stabbings. But the board agreed to consider dispatching doctors and clinical psychologists to the school just in case.
It also agreed to distribute a letter informing parents and guardians of kids at all of the city's kindergartens, elementary schools and junior high schools of the incident.
Chuo Elementary held a meeting of parents Tuesday night to explain the day's events.
The Osaka prefectural board of education issued an appeal to parents and school staff Tuesday afternoon to join hands to overcome the latest tragedy.
The Japan Times: Feb. 16, 2005