Mass stabbing in Japan

A man went on a killing spree in Japan today by stabbing at least 19 people (story HERE). The report says that the man said he was 'tired or living', yet it's reported that he dropped the knife when confronted with an officer with a gun pointed at him. This guy might have though he wanted to commit suicide and if that were true, it would have been very hard to stop him, but it's my guess that he saw a bunch of victims that weren't going to pose him much of a threat or offer much resistance. I don't want to turn this into a 'gun rights' argument, but let it suffice to say that you probably won't have a mass public group stabbing in Texas.

The man was allegedly armed with a 'survival' knife and ran around a crowded intersection stabbing people. He succeed in KILLING 7 of them. One officer engaged him with a baton, I don't yet have any more information about how that went.

Oddly enough, this very weekend in Los Angeles I was working with Darren Levine and other Krav Maga Instructors on using a baton against a knife attack and a lot of empty hand knife defenses. So, as usual, I think we should analyze some of what happened.

First of all, the attacker doesn't look like Rambo. By looking at some of the on-scene photos, it appears some were stabbed from behind, meaning they were likely running from this madman when he stabbed them. Sometimes, running is not an option. I would submit this to all of you for thought; had one of the early victims turned and hit this guy as hard as they could right on the jaw or the nose, could this outcome have been different? I say yes, very different. First of all there's crowd, or 'mob' mentality. If everyones running screaming from this guy, he MUST be the boogie man incarnate! However, if people see just ONE person turn and fight this guy, and damage him, it's far more likely other people will get involved in the struggle. He's suddenly human again, and just as nerdy as we though. I mean, who wears a beige suit with black and white Converses?

Secondly, damaging the attacker himself will change the attackers plans as he saw them. It will force him to deal with other problems and change the entire dynamic.