Akiyoshi Umekawa (1 March 1948 – 28 January 1979) was a Japanese mass murderer and bank robber who was killed during the failed Mitsubishi Bank robbery of 1979.
Biography[]
Akiyoshi Umekawa was born in Otake, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan on 1 March 1948. Umekawa committed his first murder on 16 December 1963 when he killed a woman at the age of 15, but he was allowed to keep his gun due to Japan's juvenile law protecting his criminal history. After watching the violent movie Salo in 1975, he decided that he wanted to make a big incident fifteen years after his first murder, and he decided to rob the Mitsubishi Bank on 26 January 1979. Umeyoshi took 40 hostages at the bank, killing two policeman and two employees before forcing the women to take off their clothes, as the characters in the movie Salo had done; he asked people if they knew of the movie. On 28 January 1979, the Special Assault Team launched its first operation, killing him during their storming of the bank.