In my day we had to build our guns...

Doctors find bullet in head of 'pistol-whipped' bus driver

KITAKYUSHU -- A bus driver who believed he had been pistol-whipped is lucky to be alive after being shot in the head with a homemade gun late Saturday, police said Sunday.

After driver Toshio Hama told police, "It was a former colleague who attacked me," they arrested Sadao Mitsuyasu early Sunday.

"I was upset with him because he scolded me over my speaking manner," Mitsuyasu, 61, from Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu, was quoted as saying. "I planned to murder him, so I made a gun myself."

Firstly, I think it is a bit of an over-reaction to kill someone who scolds you over your speaking manner. Methinks these bus drivers are a bit high-strung over there in Japan.

Doctors at the hospital where Hama, 59, received treatment, said that they had found what appeared to be a bullet in the victim's head. Hama is reportedly conscious.

"I was hit on the head with a gun," the driver told police officers and doctors.

The officers believe that Mitsuyasu shot Hama in the head with his hand-made gun and then hit him with the weapon made of wood and steel plates.

I'd like to see pictures of this gun made of wood and steel plates. That's definitely some pre-meditation on the part of the shooter. Maybe he had the gun already, but I got the impression that he decided to go and build it after he was scolded.