A 46-year-old man has been arrested in Nagano Prefecture for allegedly cutting his 14-year-old son with a knife, and has suggested he also killed his 49-year-old wife and 12-year-old daughter, police said.
The son ran to a nearby shop around 7.15am on Wednesday with a knife wound to his hand, saying: "I was attacked by my father."
Police went to the family home in Tōmi and found the mother, Hitomi Iijima, and the sixth-grade daughter, Hazuki, lying dead on the floor. They later arrested the father, Keisuke Iijima, in Nagano city after spotting him driving.
The couple had divorced but continued to live together as a family. A neighbour said she had seen the family of four washing cars and shovelling snow together and they appeared to get along well.
The suspect reportedly suffered health issues during questioning and was released to seek medical treatment. Police suspect he had taken some kind of poison before his arrest and plan to rearrest him after his hospital discharge.
