The Sagamihara stabbings were committed on 26 July 2016 in Midori Ward, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan. Nineteen people were killed and twenty-six others were injured, thirteen severely, at a care home for disabled people.^[1] The crimes were committed by a 26-year-old man, identified as Satoshi Uematsu (植松 聖, Uematsu Satoshi), a former employee of the care facility.^[2] Uematsu surrendered at a nearby police station with a bag of knives and was subsequently arrested.^[3][4] Justin McCurry of The Guardian described the attack as one of the worst crimes committed on Japanese soil in modern history.^[2] Uematsu was sentenced to death on 16 March 2020, after the prosecution sought the maximum penalty for murder in his trial; as of July 2022^[update], he was on death row awaiting execution.^[5] As of 2023, it is currently the deadliest mass stabbing in Japanese history.

Tsukui Yamayuri En

Sagamihara Station

Yokohama Station

Odawara Station

Location of Tsukui Yamayuri En within Kanagawa Prefecture

Tsukui Lily Garden (津久井やまゆり園, Tsukui Yamayuri En) is a residential care center run by Kanagawa Kyodokai (社会福祉法人かながわ共同会, Shakai Fukushi Hōjin Kanagawa Kyōdōkai), a social welfare organization.^[6] Established by the local government, the facility was built in a 30,890 square metres (7.63 acres) area of woodland on the bank of the Sagami River.^[7][8] As of April 2016^[update], the facility housed 149 residents between the ages of 19 and 75, all of whom had an intellectual disability but many with various physical disabilities as well. Some were capable of engaging in physical activities outdoors, while others were bedridden.^{[2][8][9][10]} The facility was located in a remote location about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from Sagamiko Station on the Chūō Main Line.^[11]

At about 02:10, Satoshi Uematsu allegedly used a hammer to break into the care centre through a glass window on the first floor. He tied up a staff member, took their keys, and then went from room to room, stabbing the victims in their necks as they slept.^[2][12] Police were called to the care center by staff members at around 02:30 local time, reporting a man with a knife breaking into the building. However, Uematsu left the premises before being apprehended; he was recorded leaving the facility at 02:50 in security camera footage.^[13]

Armed police entered the building at around 03:00 where they discovered the crime scene.^[3] Twenty-nine ambulances were sent to the facility.^[14] The suspect turned himself in at the Tsukui Police Station two hours after the incident with a bag containing kitchen knives and other bloodstained sharp tools.^[8] A knife was reportedly found in his car outside the police station.^[12]

Uematsu killed ten women and nine men aged between 18 and 70^[2] and injured 26 more, with thirteen being injured severely.^{[1][7][15][16]}

Satoshi Uematsu (植松 聖, Uematsu Satoshi) (born 20 January 1990),^[17][18] a 26-year-old (at the time of the incident) man, used to work at the care home Tsukui Yamayuri En.^[3] His father was an elementary school art teacher, and Uematsu had trained and worked as an elementary school teacher as well. He had lived in his house with his parents, but they moved away at some point and he remained there alone.^[19] He resigned from working at the facility in February 2016 after having been employed there for over three years.^[20]

Neighbors expressed surprise that he had allegedly committed the murders; he was described as a friendly, outgoing and good man. However, some reported that his personality had undergone a change at some point during his employment at the facility.^[21][22][23]

Yoshihide Suga, the Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary at the time, acknowledged that the attack was "a very heart-wrenching and shocking incident in which many innocent people became victims".^[3][7] He also said that the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare would investigate ways to prevent a similar incident from occurring again.^[1]

A number of Japanese news outlets ran editorials calling the stabbings a hate crime.^{[42][43][44][45]} By September 2016, little information had been released about the victims of the attack.^[46]

The care home facility was demolished. Nearby structures where no one was attacked, such as the administration building and gymnasium, were left intact.^[47] On 13 September 2016, the governor of Kanagawa Prefecture, Yūji Kuroiwa, said the facility would be rebuilt.^[48] The new facility of two buildings opened in July 2021.^[49]

The 26th of July is considered a significant date in disability history.^[50] In addition to being the date of the Sagamihara stabbings, 26 July 1990 saw the enactment of one of the world's first national legislation outlawing disability discrimination: the Americans with Disabilities Act.^[51]

One year after the stabbings, on 26 July 2017, a documentary was released entitled Nineteen Paper Cranes by filmmaker Michael Joseph McDonald. The film follows a deaf Japanese papermaker with Kabuki syndrome as she memorializes the nineteen victims of the Sagamihara stabbings.^[52]

• Capital punishment in Japan
• Ableism
• Aktion T4
• Life unworthy of life