Police stormed an apartment in the Tokyo suburb of Machida earlier today and apprehended an armed man who had locked-in himself alone for about 15 hours after firing nine shots from a window, reported Japanese news agency "KYODO". The armed police officers fired tear-gas and burst into his apartment shortly after 3 a.m. They immediately apprehended him, with his face smeared with blood, the police said, adding he had shot himself in the head. The gunman -- identified as Yuji Takeshita, 36, a member of a gang affiliated with the Kyokuto-kai underworld syndicate -- was rushed to a hospital in nearby Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, and is in critical condition, a hospital official said. Takeshita, a resident of the apartment, had taken no hostages and there were no reports of injuries other than to the gunman himself. The charge for his arrest was a violation of the law controlling the possession of arms by the Metropolitan Police Department. He had two handguns, the Tokyo police said. -- SPA
