The suspect accused of carrying out a deadly arson attack last July on a Kyoto Animation Co. studio bought six knives in his hometown a few weeks before the attack, investigative sources said Thursday.
Shinji Aoba, 42, who was arrested last week after being judged to have recovered sufficiently from life-threatening burns, bought the knives at a store in Saitama, near Tokyo, and took them to the studio in Kyoto's Fushimi Ward where he allegedly lit the fire that killed 36 people and injured 33 others, the sources said.
Aoba was quoted as saying, "I was thinking of attacking (the studio) with knives at first," according to the sources.
He arrived in Kyoto on July 15 last year, three days before the attack, and purchased 40 liters of gasoline immediately before setting fire to the studio, police said.
The suspect also told investigators, "I was going to use the knives to attack if anyone tried to stop me (from lighting the fuel)."
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The police said they will look into why Aoba decided to use gasoline rather than the knives as initially planned. He has admitted to lighting the deadly fire.
The knives were found near the studio shortly after the arson attack. Aoba, who was arrested on suspicion of murder and arson among other crimes, remains largely bedridden due to his injuries.
Immediately after being detained near the scene, Aoba told police he carried out the attack because the company "stole a novel" from him, a claim Kyoto Animation has denied.
The number of victims makes it one of Japan's largest-ever murder cases.
