Prosecutors on Thursday posthumously dropped an arson case against a man over charges of murder and arson at an Osaka mental health clinic last December that left him and 26 others dead.
The investigation into the suspected arson on Dec. 17 ended as the 61-year-old suspect, Morio Tanimoto, died in the hospital on Dec. 30 before police could question him. The police referred the case to the prosecutors on Wednesday.
Tanimoto was suspected of spraying gasoline and starting a fire at the clinic, killing 26 people, including regular visitors to the facility and its director, Kotaro Nishizawa, 49. He was also suspected of igniting a fire at a house he lived in just before the incident.
Surveillance cameras near the scene showed Tanimoto spraying the gasoline and igniting a fire around the clinic's entrance in the western Japan city's Kita Ward, according to the police.
The police said they have found from data on his smartphone that he was looking into "extended suicide," in which an individual who wishes to die commits mass murder, in October last year.
His motive remains unclear, but the police suspect he felt alone and wanted to die by suicide. At the time of the incident, he had no money in his bank account and no log of phone calls with acquaintances.
After analyzing his smartphone, the police believe Tanimoto was planning an arson attack on a Friday when many people visited the clinic for a scheduled group therapy session to help individuals on leaves of absence to return to work.
Some people offered flowers and prayers near the scene on Thursday, three months since the incident.
"Time has stood still since that day," an acquaintance of one of the victims said, lamenting that there will never be any closure and that investigators can no longer find out why such an incident occurred.
"I prayed for those who had passed away, hoping they would find some peace," said a woman in her 50s who visited the scene from the city of Takatsuki in Osaka Prefecture.
Related coverage:
Death toll of victims from Osaka mental clinic arson in Dec. rises to 26
Suspect in fatal Osaka mental clinic fire dies
