Tokyo police have arrested a suspect two days after high school students were attacked with what is believed to be a hammer.
Takabayashi Teruyuki, 44, was arrested Friday on suspicion of attempted murder.
Investigators say on Wednesday morning seven young people were gathered outside a restaurant in the city of Fussa, western Tokyo, when a 17-year-old high school student was struck several times in the face. The boy sustained serious injuries and another male student was slightly injured.
Police say when officers rushed to the scene, the suspect brandished a survival knife and apparently used agricultural equipment to spray a liquid toward them, injuring three officers.
Police believed the suspect then barricaded himself in his nearby home. But when officers forced their way in after four and a half hours, they discovered he had already fled.
Police placed the suspect on the nationwide wanted list and tracked him down on Friday afternoon 70 kilometers from the site of the attack at an apartment in Narashino, Chiba Prefecture. Investigators believe he traveled through Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture, partly by car.
The suspect has reportedly denied the allegations, saying he had no intention to kill anyone.