Memorial ceremony held for disabled victims of 2016 care home stabbings

By Barrier Free Japan via Jiji via The Japan Times

July 26 2024

Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Pref – A memorial ceremony was held in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Friday 26th July to mourn for the 19 people killed in a knife attack on Tsukui Yamayuri-en, a prefectural care home for people with disabilities, eight years ago.

“Please watch over me and everyone at Tsukui Yamayuri-en from heaven,” Yukari Okutsu, who leads a community group formed by residents of the facility, said in a speech.

Kiyomitsu Nagai, head of the facility, said: “Even after eight years have passed, your smiles are alive in our hearts. You will be always with us.”

The ceremony was held at the facility and attended by 89 people, including bereaved families, who offered a moment of silence for the victims. They later laid flowers at a memorial monument.

At a news conference after the ceremony, Kanagawa Gov. Yuji Kuroiwa called for greater efforts to ensure the safety of care homes.

“We’ve spent the eight years in preventing a similar incident from happening again, but we’ve recently found abuse cases at a separate prefectural care home,” Kuroiwa said.

The knifing rampage happened in the early morning of July 26, 2016, when Satoshi Uematsu, a former staff member of Tsukui Yamayuri-en, killed 19 residents and injured 26 others. The 34-year-old filed for a retrial in April 2022 after he was sentenced to death.