Cop Allegedly Killed Woman After Stalking Her for Months

Saturday, August 25, 2007 at 08:01 EDT

TOKYO — A 40-year-old Tokyo policeman allegedly shot and killed a woman and then killed himself earlier this week after he stalked her for months and feared he would be exposed, police sources said Friday. The policeman was identified as Hidekazu Tomono, a "koban" police box duty officer at the Tachikawa Police Station of the Metropolitan Police Department.

He allegedly shot and killed 32-year-old Yoko Sato, an employee of a restaurant in Tachikawa, western Tokyo.

Investigators say Sato had sent email messages to Tomono threatening to file a criminal complaint against him because she said he had entered her apartment without permission.
Sato's last message, sent at around 9:50 p.m. Monday shortly before she was killed, reads that his intrusion into her apartment could be established by fingerprints, the sources said.

Tomono apparently feared his stalking of the woman would be exposed, they said.

Tokyo police say Tomono allegedly shot Sato to death with his handgun Monday night at her apartment in Kokubunji, some 30 kilometers west of central Tokyo, and then turned the gun on himself.

The bodies of Sato and Tomono were found in the apartment Tuesday morning. The woman had been shot twice each in the chest and the abdomen, while Tomono had a gunshot wound to the chest.

Police sources said Sato had sent six email messages Monday to Tomono's mobile phone.
In the messages, Sato said she did not want to meet with Tomono, that he had entered her apartment without permission, and she threatened to file a criminal complaint against him, the sources said.

The last time a policeman committed murder in Japan was in December 2000, when a 42-year-old officer of the Kanagawa prefectural police stabbed and killed a fellow female officer and then killed himself. In 1983, an Osaka policeman killed his mistress.

Kyodo