Car ramming in Japan injures 7 schoolchildren and suspect is arrested on the scene

Police officers inspect a vehicle believed to have hit elementary school students, in Osaka, western Japan, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Kyodo News via AP)

TOKYO — A man in Japan was arrested on suspicion of driving his car into seven schoolchildren who were walking home, injuring them, one seriously, police said.

Police were handling the case as attempted murder rather than reckless driving because the suspect, Yuki Yazawa, 28, told investigators that he was “sick and tired of everything” and on Thursday drove his car into the children to kill them, officials said.

Osaka prefectural police said Yazawa was arrested at the scene and is facing charges of attempted murder.

The injured schoolchildren were aged 7 and 8 and were walking home from an elementary school nearby, police said. A 7-year-old girl suffered a broken jaw, while the other six — all boys — were slightly injured, Osaka police said.

Television footage showed ambulances parked on a narrow back street with medics giving first aid to the children.

NHK public television quoted a witness as saying that the children had fallen to the ground, screaming, and that the driver, who was silent and appeared to be in a daze, stayed in his seat until police came.

Violent crimes are rare in Japan, but in recent years there have been a number of high-profile attacks involving knives or home-made explosives.

In a car attack and a knifing rampage in 2008, a man drove down his truck on a street in Tokyo’s Akiharbara electronics shopping area, slammed into a crowd of people and killing three, then got out of the vehicle and stabbed four to death.

Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press