Crime & Courts

Girl Stabbed to Death by ‘Stranger’ at McDonald’s in Southern Japanese City of Kitakyushu

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:39 JST, December 15, 2024

KITAKYUSHU — Two junior high school students were stabbed by a man at a McDonald’s in Kitakyushu on Saturday, and one victim was later confirmed dead at the hospital, according to local police.

The deceased was a 15-year-old girl from the city. The other victim was a boy of the same age who suffered non-fatal injuries and who is also from the city.

The two were stabbed by a total stranger, the boy told police.

According to police, the two were standing in line at the cash register of the McDonald’s at around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday in the city’s Kokura Minami Ward when they were stabbed by the man, who had entered the store after them. The girl was stabbed in the stomach and the boy in the lower back.

According to a senior police officer, the man went straight up to the two students, stabbed them without saying a word and then fled. The man is believed to have spent less than a minute inside the restaurant. There were no injuries to other customers or employees.

The suspect is around 40 years old and about 1.7 meters tall. The murder weapon has not been found, and the man is believed to have fled holding the knife.