The 2010 Habikino shooting was a deadly spree shooting

Spree killer

A spree killer is someone who embarks on a murderous assault on two or more victims in a short time in multiple locations. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics defines a spree killing as "killings at two or more locations with almost no time break between murders."-Definition:According to the...

 which occurred at a drinking establishment located just south of Eganoshō Station

Eganosho Station

is a train station in Habikino, Osaka Prefecture, Japan.-Adjacent stations:...

 in Habikino

Habikino, Osaka

is a city located in eastern Osaka, Japan. It is particularly well-known for its grape production, as well as the many ancient burial mounds that dot its landscape.-Within Japan: Kameyama, Mie Gose, Nara...

, Osaka Prefecture

Osaka Prefecture

is a prefecture located in the Kansai region on Honshū, the main island of Japan. The capital is the city of Osaka. It is the center of Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area.- History :...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 on 12 January 2010.

The attack was carried out by 49-year-old Yasuhisa Sugiura. Three people, including the gunman's mother-in-law, were shot dead before the perpetrator committed suicide.

Shooting incidents such as these are rare in Japan.

Sugiura

Yasuhisa Sugiura, 49, was a government employee in Japan's second city Osaka

Osaka

is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

. According to police, he was involved in a "troubled marriage" with a 48-year-old woman.

Shooting

On 12 January 2010, Sugiura went to the Ii-chan bar to discuss a divorce with his mother-in-law, 66-year-old Yoshiko Tanaka, who would subsequently become one of his victims. The bar was open for business and had other customers inside; Sugiura's wife was possibly one of them. Sugiura then departed. Sugiura came back armed with a rifle and opened fire at approximately 20:00 that evening, killing three people. Two of Sugiura's targets — the mother-in-law and a 23-year-old bar employee named Tatsuya Fukui — died immediately; a third, 49-year-old bar landlord Hiroto Uehara, died shortly thereafter. Witnesses described the rifle shots as "three or four blunt bangs"; a pool of blood was left in front of the bar.

Sugiura then exited the bar and shot himself in the abdomen, killing himself.