Around 20 people were injured at a luxury shopping complex in central Tokyo on Monday after a man sprayed a substance inside, police and fire department officials said.
Tokyo police spokesman Yusuke Koide told AFP that a man sprayed a substance at an ATM on the ground floor of the building, while a local fire department official said “around 20 people were injured” after a report of a “smell”.
The road in front of the mall — located in the touristy and upmarket shopping district of Ginza — was blocked off following the incident, and fire trucks lined the street.
However, shoppers continued to come and go from the building using side entrances.
An AFP reporter at the scene saw two people on stretchers being put into an ambulance, while firefighters and officials dressed in hazmat suits brought people from the mall into specialised trucks to examine them.
“As of now, 19 people have been transported to a hospital,” fire department official Ryosuke Kobayashi told reporters.
Public broadcaster NHK said the injuries appeared to be light.
It said the spray was believed to have contained the irritant capsaicin, the active component of chilli peppers, according to unidentified investigative sources.
One 70-year-old woman who was at the mall told the broadcaster that her throat started “stinging and hurting” as she approached the ATM.
“By the time I arrived, the commotion had already started, and I thought there might have been a small fire or something.
“Once I went into the ATM corner, my throat felt scratchy, almost numb,” she said.
Police are investigating the cause, a fire department officer at the scene said.
Violent crime is relatively rare in Japan, which has a low murder rate and some of the world’s toughest gun laws.
However, there are occasional stabbing attacks and even shootings, including the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022.
Fourteen people were injured in a stabbing attack in a factory in central Japan in December last year, during which an unspecified liquid was also sprayed.
Japan remains shaken by the memory of a major subway attack in 1995 when members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult released sarin gas on trains, killing 14 people and making more than 5,800 ill.
Five members of the Aum cult dropped bags of Nazi-developed sarin nerve agent inside morning commuter trains on March 20, 1995, piercing the pouches with sharpened umbrella tips before fleeing.
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