Japan: "U.S. sailor reported stable after shooting"

[cuchulainn]

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=18325

From Stars and Stripes

U.S. sailor reported stable after shooting

By Greg Tyler and Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, October 28, 2003

HIROSHIMA, Japan — A 21-year-old sailor remained hospitalized Sunday evening after being shot as he walked in an entertainment district street around 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Eric S. Heinz, a preventive medicine corpsman at Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station’s Branch Medical Clinic, was in stable condition Sunday evening, said Marine Capt. Stewart Upton, base spokesman.

Sought for questioning in connection with the shooting was a 5-foot-4 man between ages 25 and 30, said a Hiroshima Prefectural Police spokesman. The man spoke Japanese and at the time of the shooting drove a two- or three-year-old black Nissan Cedric, the spokesman said.

Two other U.S. servicemembers — a Marine and another sailor — were with Heinz when he was shot. Their names were not disclosed, Upton said, because the crime remains under investigation. “They were not injured in any way,†he said.

Heinz had surgery Sunday afternoon at Hiroshima Prefectural Hospital, the police spokesman said, “to remove a 10-millimeter-long bullet from his left side waist area.â€

Citing a preliminary police investigation, the spokesman said it appears that as Heinz and the other two walked in Nagarekawa District, a driver shot the sailor through his car’s open passenger-side window.

As the wounded sailor lay on the ground, the driver got out of his car, pointed a gun at the other two servicemembers and spoke to them in Japanese. “He then returned to his car and drove away,†the Hiroshima police spokesman said.

“His hair was short with a tight perm and he was wearing a black sweatshirt and beige pants,†the spokesman said.

Unknown Sunday afternoon, Hiroshima police said, was whether Heinz and the man were acquainted. The police said they suspect the crime was “a random shooting.â€

That alone is unusual in Japan, which has among the world’s toughest gun-control laws and lowest gun crime rates.

Gun owners undergo rigorous screening, according to Join Together, a Boston University School of Public Health initiative working against gun violence. In effect, only police can have handguns; owning a rifle or shotgun requires completing a complicated licensing procedure. Japan averages less than 30 murders by guns a year, compared with almost 11,000 in the U.S., the organization states on its Web site at www.jointogether.org/gv/issues/problem/global/.

Upton said the air station’s Naval Criminal Investigative Service is coordinating with Hiroshima police, who “have jurisdiction in the conduct of this investigation.â€

Hiroshima, about 45 minutes by train from the base, is a popular destination for Marines and sailors at Iwakuni.

It’s also been the scene of Japanese gang violence targeting U.S. Marines. Stars and Stripes reported in October 1998, for instance, that Hiroshima police arrested six motorcycle gang members accused of being among a group of 50 — mostly teenagers — who surrounded and assaulted four Marines from Iwakuni.

© 2003 Stars and Stripes.

 

[WT]

I guess they forgot that the last time they p*ssed us off, we dropped the atomic bomb on them.

 

[Brian Dale]

I'm waiting to see: "The police spokesman later recanted his statement, saying, "This did not happen. We have no firearms in Japan" -- "

About "His hair was short with a tight perm" - it's called a 'punch perm' - that used to be the hair style of chimpira: two-bit Yakuza-connected thugs and wannabes.

The police said they suspect the crime was “a random shooting.â€

Yeah, right; happens all the time. It sounds like somebody's got connections.

 

[Wildalaska]

I guess they forgot that the last time they p*ssed us off, we dropped the atomic bomb on them.

Thats a realHigh Road statement

 

[Cool Hand Luke 22:36]

I guess they forgot that the last time they p*ssed us off, we dropped the atomic bomb on them.

The impression I came away with after living in Hiroshima for a few years back in the early 90's is that the Japanese there definately haven't forgotten the atomic bombing. They maintain the Genku-Domo (Sp?) as a shrine, and have a museum with any number of gory life-sized dioramas of the victims; artifacts like stopped and half-melted watches, pictures of the aftermath, personal stories of the survivors, etc. Japanese school kids are paraded through the museum on field trips. Absent is any mention of the motive for the bombing, i.e., the Japenese Govenment's sole responsibility for making the attack necessary.

And the Marines from MCAS Iwakuni have subtle ways of reminding them of the atomic bombing, such as walking around the city during the 50th year rememberance ceremony making whistling noises like a bomb dropping.

The residents of Hiroshima consider themselves to have a special role in the world now as an "international city of peace" and dedicate themselves to the ideal of nuclear disarmament. The younger ones (<55 years) generally go out of their way to be friendly to foreigners. It's the only part of Japan where for example, you will regularly have a native Japanese strike up a conversation with you on the train. Some of the older ones who survived the attack will glare bitterly at any caucasian foreigner.

The city is very liveable, very modern and open compared to most others in Japan. The Japanese there have done a great job in rebuilding their cultural sites like the Hiroshima Castle, Sukien (Sp?) Gardens, and others. If you visit Japan you could do a lot worse than to just spend a week in Hiroshima and the surrounding scenic areas in Yamaguchi prefecture.

 

[Cool Hand Luke 22:36]

Update, looks like a yakusa has-been was the shooter:



Gangster admits shooting U.S. serviceman in 'car rage'
Tue Oct 28 2003 21:27:28 ET

HIROSHIMA, Oct. 29 (Kyodo) _ A gangster turned himself in at a police station in Hiroshima on Tuesday night and admitted shooting a U.S. serviceman and threatening two others last Sunday in city, saying he did it because they had stepped in front of his car, the police said.

Tomoyuki Matsumoto, 37, a former ranking member of an organized crime group, now unemployed, handed over an automatic pistol when he appeared at the Hiroshima Higashi police station at around 9:40 p.m., the police said.

He was arrested on suspicion of violating the firearms and swords law, the police said.

Matsumoto was quoted as telling the police, ''I was annoyed by the man who cut across in front of my car, so I shot him.''

The police said they will also question Matsumoto with a view to having him charged with the attempted murder of the serviceman, U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Eric Heinz, 21.

The incident took place at around 4 a.m. Sunday in Hiroshima's Naka Ward when Heinz and two other U.S. servicemen were walking on a street. A man in a car fired one shot, hitting Heinz in the left side of his waist.

The man got out of the car and pointed the gun at the other two servicemen before driving off, the police said earlier.

The vehicle was found Monday in the city's Asaminami Ward. Matsumoto told the police that he decided to give himself up as he could not escape after the car was found.

Heinz is a preventive medicine corpsman at Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture. He was originally misidentified as a U.S. Marine. He underwent surgery at a Hiroshima hospital to remove a bullet from his side and is reportedly in stable condition.