Man suspected of attempted murder arrested after standoff in Hokkaido

BIHORO, Hokkaido -- A man wanted over an incident in which his former wife and her mother were attacked was found in a car and arrested here on Feb. 10 after a standoff of a few hours, investigators said.

Shuichi Shirakawa, 30, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder for an attack on his ex-wife. Police are also investigating the death of the ex-wife's mother as a case of murder.

According to prefectural police, at around 1:35 p.m. on Feb. 10, they received an emergency phone call from a man in Bihoro saying, "There is a car nearby like the one being sought by police in the news." At around 2 p.m., officers from the Bihoro Police Station responding to the call found Shirakawa's van. Shirakawa was wearing a T-shirt and was in the driver's seat, and did not respond to police attempts to convince him to leave the vehicle.

A local fire authority says that Shirakawa had poured oil on himself and was indicating that he might set himself on fire, so firefighters were brought to the site. At around 4:40 p.m., investigators broke a window of the van and seized Shirakawa. Police say that when they grabbed Shirakawa he was screaming, saying things like, "Help me." Neither Shirakawa nor any investigators were injured.

Investigators allege that on Feb. 7 at around 7 p.m., Shirakawa hit his ex-wife Yuko Ouchi, 23, multiple times including in the face and on the head at a home in Toyohira Ward, Sapporo. Prefectural police are also investigating the allegations that he hit and killed his ex-wife's mother, Mayumi Ouchi, 52, who was with her.

According to an investigative source, Shirakawa's family home is in Bihoro. Early on Feb. 8 he brought his 1-year-old son to the family home, after which his whereabouts were unknown. Before he left he allegedly told his family, "I'll die before being caught by the police." There is also said to have been a will-like document left in Shirakawa's home in Toyohira Ward that suggested he was going to commit suicide.