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CNN Saturday Morning News

Japan Mourns Victims of School Massacre

Aired June 09, 2001 - 09:21   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Funerals are scheduled to begin tomorrow for some of the eight children stabbed to death in Japan's worst mass killing in years. The attack happened at an elementary school.

As CNN's Marina Kamimura reports, residents are struggling to come to terms with this tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARINA KAMIMURA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The indescribable heartache of a principal visiting the parents of a 7- year-old girl who left for school as usual Friday but now will never come home again, one of the 21 children allegedly stabbed by a man wielding a knife as he forced his way through four separate grade one and two classes at the Ikeda Elementary School in western Japan.

"I brought flowers to pray for them," says this man who visited the school. "I hope the children go to heaven."

School officials promise counseling and beefed-up security for parents at an emergency meeting. Some called the makeshift hotlines already set up to help family and friends deal with traumatized victims and their classmates.

Police raided the apartment of the suspect who they had arrested on sight, trying to piece together a motive for the attack. The man, reportedly a diagnosed schizophrenic with a long history of violence.

Local media say he had been summoned to appear before the local public prosecutor on assault charges a few hours after his rampage.

(on camera): For the parents of young children nationwide, the attack was a startling wakeup call, shattering the belief that Japanese schools are a safe place to be.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I was shocked, since I have children in the second and fifth grade and could visualize what was happening. When I heard that eight children were dead, I could not stop the tears.

KAMIMURA: While educational officials urged all schools to tighten security, parents appeared torn between better safeguards and creating schools that are like prisons. "I do not want the school to be closed off and to be safe just inside the fence," says this mother. "I think it is important for the school to be open and children to be watched by the community as well."

That debate only expected to intensify, especially as reports came in about the stabbing of another youngster in a park in western Japan as he played ball with a friend.

Marina Kamimura, CNN, Tokyo.

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