Victims of Sagamihara Care Home Attack Remembered 10 Years On

Sagamihara, Kanagawa Pref., July 25 (Jiji Press)--A memorial ceremony was held Saturday to remember the 19 victims of the 2016 mass stabbing at a care home for people with disabilities in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, a day before the 10th anniversary of the incident.

The ceremony was usually held at the care home, but this year, it took place at a larger venue in Sagamihara to attract more attendees, according to the prefectural government, one of the organizers of the event. Kanagawa Governor Yuji Kuroiwa, bereaved family members and others connected with the facility took part.

After the ceremony, participants laid flowers in memory of the victims, and experts and others held a meeting to discuss the prefectural government's goal of improving welfare services for people with disabilities from the perspective of service users.

The attack occurred in the early hours of July 26, 2016, at the Tsukui Yamayuri-en care home, where Satoshi Uematsu, a former employee of the facility, now 36, broke in and killed 19 residents while injuring 26 others, including staff members.

Uematsu's death sentence was finalized in March 2020. He filed a second petition for a retrial in January this year.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]