Eight people were injured by a hammer-wielding woman on Hosei University’s Tama campus in Tokyo on Friday afternoon.
The Metropolitan Police Department’s Minamiosawa station arrested the 22-year-old woman on the spot on suspicion of injuring at least one of the eight. The woman claimed to be a South Korean national and student at the university,
“I was feeling frustrated because I was bullied,” the suspect said according to investigative and other sources, adding that she “was filled with anger” because she “had been ignored” and decided to hit people with a hammer found at the school.
The sources said that the woman started brandishing the hammer suddenly during class in the sociology department building around 3:40 p.m. There were some 100 people in the classroom.
Those injured were five men and two women in their 20s and a 19-year-old woman. Some were bleeding from the head, but all were able to talk and walk and were considered to have minor injuries.
Police confiscated a hammer-like object believed to have been used in the assault.
“We will care for those attacked and students and faculty members who feel uneasy, cooperate with police investigations and ensure campus safety,” Hosei University President Katsuya Hirose said in a statement.
A 20-year-old student who witnessed the assault in the classroom said: “Everyone was targeted in the head. She seemed to be attacking indiscriminately.”
According to some students, the suspect had caused disturbances months earlier by assaulting students and using abusive language.