Taxi Driver Shot in Kawaguchi, Saitama Pref.; Police Tracking Down Man on Suspicion of Attempted Murder

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:16 JST, May 30, 2024

A 72-year-old taxi driver on Wednesday rushed into a convenience store in the Saiwai-cho district in Kawaguchi, Saitama prefecture, saying “I’ve been shot,” and the store manager called the police. The driver sustained a serious injury to his abdomen, but it is not life threatening.

The driver told the police that, when he stopped on the street near the store, the passenger in the back seat threatened him, saying, “Give me the cash.” The passenger then shot him with what looked like a handgun. Saitama prefectural police are searching for the suspect under suspicions of attempted murder and robbery.

According to a senior police officer, the suspect is a man in his 50s or 60s with short hair. He was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and black trousers with a hat, glasses and a white mask. The suspect fled the scene in a southeasterly direction and the gun-like object was not found at the site.

The suspect got into the taxi near JR Akabane Station in Kita Ward, Tokyo, and asked to be dropped off near the site where the incident occurred.

According to the police, there were reports saying, “Someone’s hitting the door of a cab from the inside,” and “There was a sound like a firecracker.”