CNN
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At least four people were injured Thursday after a man fired what appeared to be a hunting rifle in the city of Nakano in central Japan’s Nagano Prefecture, the country’s public broadcaster NHK reported.
Police received a call late in the afternoon with reports that “a man stabbed a woman,” NHK reported.
When police arrived at the scene, the man fired what looked like a hunting rifle, wounding four people before fleeing and barricading himself in a building, NHK added.
NHK reported that the suspect was wearing a camouflage hat, the top and bottom with sunglasses and a mask.
The city of Nakano urged citizens to stay at home in a statement posted on social media on Thursday.
Gun violence is extremely rare in Japan. The country has one of the lowest gun crime rates in the world due to its extremely strict gun control laws.
In 2018, Japan, a country of 125 million people, reported just nine gun deaths, compared with 39,740 that year in the United States, according to data compiled by the Sydney School of Public Health at the University of Sydney.
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