[7][5][1] Kawasaki city fire department said it received an emergency call at 7:44 a.m. JST,[8] and responded to an incident in which a man attacked students waiting at a bus stop with yanagi ba, long and thin knives used in Japanese cuisine to prepare sashimi and nigiri sushi, in both hands.

Authorities told reporters the man attacked people randomly as they lined up to enter the bus.

[14][15] He was found lying on the ground of the scene, bleeding from a self-inflicted stab wound to the neck.

[18] The deceased were identified as Hanako Kuribayashi (栗林 華子, Kuribayashi Hanako), an 11-year-old student, and Satoshi Oyama (小山 智史, Oyama Satoshi), a 39-year-old Foreign Ministry employee who worked primarily as a diplomat to Myanmar.

[14] Several days after the incident, former MAFF Vice Minister Hideaki Kumazawa killed his hikikomori son, Eiichiro, fearing that he would commit similar crimes to those of which Iwasaki committed, as he had been violent towards his family members as well as being described as reclusive.