New Year's Eve celebrations were marred in Tokyo last night when a car plowed into a crowd near the city's iconic Meiji shrine, CNN reports. Nine people were injured, one seriously, when the suspect — identified as 21-year-old Kazuhiro Kusakabe — drove a vehicle into a crowded street that had been closed to traffic a few minutes after midnight. The suspect fled the scene but was apprehended by police 20 minutes later.
Upon his capture, Kusakabe initially described the episode as an act of terror before telling police that he had acted in "retaliation for the execution of Aum cult members," per CNN. The cult was held responsible for a 1995 sarin gas attack in the city's subway, and its remaining members were executed last year. Kusakabe is being held on suspicion of attempted murder, CNBC reports.
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