SAGAMIHARA, Japan — The Sagamihara City fire department says that 19 people are confirmed dead in an attack on a facility for the disabled outside Tokyo.
The fire department said a doctor or doctors on the scene confirmed the deaths around 8 a.m. Tuesday morning.
Japan’s national broadcaster NHK reported earlier that 45 were injured in the knife attack Tuesday at a facility in Sagamihara, just outside Tokyo.
Police said they responded to a call about 2:30 a.m. from an employee saying something horrible is happening.
Local government officials have identified the suspect in the knife attack as Satoshi Uematsu.
A Kanagawa prefecture official told a news conference that Uematsu entered the building about 2:10 a.m. by breaking a glass window on the first floor of a residential building at the facility for the handicapped.
Shinya Sakuma, head of prefectural health and welfare division, said Uematsu had worked at the facility until February. Japanese media reports said he is 26 years old.
Police said earlier Uematsu turned himself in at a police station about two hours later. He left the knife in his car when he entered the station. He has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and trespassing.
Television footage showed a number of ambulances parked outside the facility, with medics and other rescue workers running in and out.