Suspect arrested for deadly arson at a Kyoto anime studio

Japanese police on Wednesday arrested a suspect following an investigation into a deadly arson at a Kyoto anime studio last year.

Kyoto police said they arrested Shinji Aoba, 42, on murder and arson allegations, 10 months after obtaining the warrant because they had to wait for Aoba to recover from his own severe burns.

Police also reportedly waited to arrest him until Japan's coronavirus emergency was fully lifted this week.

Japanese television footage on Wednesday showed Aoba, his face scarred and eyebrows lost apparently from the fire, strapped to a stretcher as he was carried into a police station.

Aoba is accused of storming into Kyoto Animation's No. 1 studio on July 18 last year, setting it on fire and killing 36 people.

The attack shocked Japan and drew an outpouring of grief from anime fans worldwide.

About 70 people were working inside the studio in southern Kyoto, Japan's ancient capital, at the time of the attack.

The fire was Japan’s deadliest since 2001, when a blaze in Tokyo’s Kabukicho entertainment district killed 44 people in the country’s worst known case of arson in modern times.