Konami employee arrested for attempted murder of former boss

Japan’s Metropolitan Police Department announced the arrest of an employee of Konami Digital Entertainment on suspicion of attempted murder. According to a report by the Mainichi Shimbun, the suspect is said to have hit their former boss on the head with a fire extinguisher. The motive for the attack was reportedly workplace harassment, and the suspect claimed that they struck with an intention to kill.

According to the police, the suspect is a 41-year-old employee of the company. The incident allegedly occurred at around 11 a.m. on April 11 at the suspect’s workplace, where they attempted to kill their former 48-year-old boss by hitting him on the head with a fire extinguisher. The victim survived the attack without sustaining life-threatening injuries. The suspect was dismissed from the company on the same day of the incident.

The suspect had worked in the same department as the victim until the summer of 2020.  According to Asahi Shimbun Digital, the suspect had consulted with the company about receiving harassment from their boss, but the company determined that there was no evidence of workplace harassment. As a result, in August 2020, the company took measures to transfer the suspect to another team.

An individual with the same name (山崎裕基) as the suspect can be found in the end credit of the PS Vita/PSP game Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V Tag Force Special, where they are credited as a card content production collaborator, though it’s unclear if this is the same person as the suspect (Game Staff wiki).

Translated based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-04-11 19:25 JST)