The Kyoto Prefectural Police stated on Thursday that a fire broke out at anime studio’s Kyoto Animation’s 1st Studio building just past 10:30 a.m. JST.
The police told public broadcaster NHK that several people had died in the fire but could not specify the number. As of press time, at least 35 people have been confirmed to be injured in the blaze.
The police have already arrested a man who started the fire. The police stated that the man was pouring what appeared to be gasoline around the studio before lighting it on fire. It was also reported that he was directly pouring gasoline onto people. The 41-year-old man has been taken into custody and admitted to starting the fire.
UPDATE: A knife was found at the scene and it was reported that he was shouting “Die” while setting the building on fire.
UPDATE: 13 people have been confirmed dead.
UPDATE: 31 people missing, not able to get in contact with them.
UPDATE: 33 confirmed dead. 12 were men, 20 were women, and one is unknown.
UPDATE: The suspect was from Saitama Prefecture which is in the Kanto region of Japan, far away from Kyoto (Kansai region)
UPDATE: It was revealed that the doors to the building are normally locked and you need a security key to get in but today they were expecting visitors (business-related I assume). Near the crime scene, two 20L gasoline tanks were found, a backpack and handbag with multiple knives and a hammer.
UPDATE: The police are assuming he emptied the gasoline tanks into a bucket which was then transferred into the building via a trolley. Since last year KyoAni have been receiving weird messages and were in contact with the police regarding them. The police were investigating since.
UPDATE: The news also had some visuals displaying what occurred. He walked into the building with a trolley that had a bucket containing 40L of gasoline on, picked it up and started to pour it out while screaming “die” then lit it up within a matter of seconds.
UPDATE: They also stated that people tried to make it to the roof but people started to collapse while going up the stairs which resulted in no one being able to make it to the top.
UPDATE: The suspect has said his reasoning for doing it is: “They stole my novel idea so I decided to set their building on fire.” It was also reported that on the 14th of July he had issues with his next-door neighbor in Saitama.
UPDATE: 34 confirmed dead.
Source: NHK, Yahoo, Yahoo, Kyodo, Kyodo, Yahoo, Yahoo, Yahoo, Yahoo, Yahoo
