TOKYO (AP) — Japanese police were searching Monday for a suspect who shot and killed a customer at a Starbucks the previous day in what was reportedly a gang-related crime.
The man was fatally shot in the chest at a shopping mall in the city of Shikokuchuo in Ehime prefecture on the southwestern main island of Shikoku, local police said. He was rushed to a hospital but later pronounced dead, the statement said.
The victim, a 49-year-old man, was in a terrace section of a store before he collapsed, police said, declining to confirm reports he was at a Starbucks outlet. The suspected shooter, whom police described as a middle-aged man, is on the run and the motive is not known.
Nobody else was hurt and police said they are looking into the possibility that the victim was targeted but declined to confirm Japanese media reports they are investigating the shooting as gang-related.
The area is close to elementary and junior high schools, and police and city officials have used community disaster alert system to urge the residents to use caution.
Japan has strict gun control laws and its few gun-related crimes are often linked to gangsters. Homemade guns have been used or suspected in some high-profile shootings, including the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022.
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