Sagamihara stabbings

In the early hours of 26 July 2016, a man broke into Tsukui Yamayuri En, a residential care facility for people with intellectual and physical disabilities in Midori Ward, Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Using a hammer to smash a window, he entered the facility carrying a bag containing five knives, a hammer, and cable ties. Over the course of roughly an hour, he moved between the facility's residential wards, tying up staff members, questioning them about which residents could speak, and stabbing residents he believed could not communicate, primarily targeting their necks, chests, and torsos as they slept. Nineteen residents, aged between 18 and 70, were killed, and 26 others were injured, 13 of them severely. Staff members in several wards attempted to alert police during the attack, including one who sent text messages by typing with his toes after his hands were bound. Police received their first call at approximately 02:38, but the attacker had left the premises by 02:48. He was arrested after turning himself in at a nearby police station at 03:05 with a bag of bloodstained knives.

The man responsible, identified as Satoshi Uematsu, a 26-year-old former employee of the facility, had worked there from December 2012 until resigning in February 2016. Months before the attack, in February 2016, Uematsu had attempted to deliver a letter to the Speaker of Japan's House of Representatives calling for the legalized euthanasia of people with multiple disabilities, with the consent of guardians, describing such killings as being "for the sake of Japan and world peace." After the letter came to the attention of local authorities, he was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital for two weeks but released on 2 March 2016 after doctors assessed he was not a threat.

Uematsu was found mentally competent to stand trial in February 2017 and was formally charged in February 2019 with 19 counts of murder, 24 counts of attempted murder, and additional charges including illegal confinement and unlawful entry. Although his defense initially indicated it would argue diminished capacity due to marijuana use, Uematsu stated in December 2019 that he intended to admit to the crime. He pleaded not guilty in January 2020, but on 16 March 2020 the Yokohama District Court sentenced him to death after prosecutors sought the maximum penalty. Uematsu did not appeal, and the sentence was finalized on 30 March 2020. A subsequent request for a retrial, filed in April 2022, was dismissed in April 2023.

Japanese officials, including then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, described the attack as shocking, and the government pledged to review measures to prevent similar incidents. Some Japanese news outlets characterized the attack as a hate crime. The original care facility building was demolished, while the administration building and gymnasium were left standing; a new facility comprising two buildings opened in July 2021.