The 15-year-old boy who is suspected of stabbing a family of six in Oita Prefecture expressed regret Wednesday over the attack, which left three dead and one in critical condition, the boy's lawyer said.
"I did a terrible thing. I am very sorry," the boy, a first-year high school student, was quoted by the lawyer as saying about the Monday morning incident.
The lawyer, who met with the boy for about 30 minutes Wednesday morning at the police station where he is being detained, said the boy tearfully told him that he had been unsure "until the last moment" whether to go through with the crime.
"I think I should not have done it. I deeply regret what I did," the lawyer quoted the boy as saying.