Guns possessed by yakuza gangsters pose a threat to society. But what happened early last week in Tokyo is serious as well. A "koban" (police box) duty officer of the Metropolitan Police Department assigned to the Tachikawa Police Station used a gun issued to him to shoot a woman to death in her apartment in Kokubunji, Tokyo. He then shot himself to death. By failing to keep strict watch on the behavior of the officer, the police department became partially responsible for this crime.
The 40-year-old policeman, while in uniform, entered the residence of the 32-year-old woman, a snack bar worker, by using a duplicate key on the night of Aug. 20. The woman was shot twice in the chest and once in the abdomen before the police officer shot himself in the chest.
Investigators found that the woman had sent e-mail messages from her mobile phone to the policeman threatening to file a criminal complaint against him for allegedly entering her apartment without permission. Later it was found that the policeman had repeatedly stalked the woman.