Taketo Hatakeyama

Officers heard shots fired at the doorway from inside the apartment in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, around 5:30 a.m. as they were breaking down the door. When they entered, they found the bodies of Taketo Hatakeyama, a 41-year-old member of the Sumiyoshi-kai crime syndicate, and a 22-year-old woman who was later identified as Keiko Kato, a bar employee.

Both had gunshot wounds to the head. Police found one handgun in the flat and speculate that the pair committed suicide.

The standoff began May 18, when Kanagawa Prefectural Police investigators went to the apartment looking for Hatakeyama, who was suspected of violating the firearms control law.

The Japan Times Weekly: May 29, 2004
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