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Earlier this month we saw what was beleived to be the first ISIS-inspired murder in Japan when a group of teenagers brutally killed a fellow classmate. However it has recently come to light that in the middle of February, a different group of Tokyo middle school students broke into an elementary school with the intent of murdering the school pet goat as “practice” for killing a fellow human being.

According to news reports, three middle school boys armed with crowbars and saws broke into an elementary school before it opened in the morning in mid-February and started hitting the school’s pet goat with their weapons. A police officer patrolling nearby heard the goat’s cries and went to investigate, finding the group of boys abusing the animal, and arrested the three of them on the spot for trespassing.

After being taken to the police station for questioning, the boys claimed that they “were influenced by ISIS,” had watched videos put out by the militant group on their home computers, and that they were going to kill the goat as “practice for killing a person.” All three of them have been handed over to the Tokyo Family Court as the investigation continues.

Thankfully no one, including the goat, was severely hurt this time around. Still, many consider what the boys did a terrible act. Here are some translated comments posted to 2channel after the story broke:

“They’re a Japanese terrorist cell.”
“Send them off to the real ISIS and see what they think.”
“I’m glad the cop found them right away, but I don’t think there’s any way people like them can ever hope to be rehabilitated.”
“They’ll probably just do something like this again in a few years.”
“Was the goat okay?! He looked okay in the video….”
“Wait, their school had a goat for their pet?! All we ever had was a lame rabbit.”

Click here to see the full video of the news investigation on FNN’s website. It’s in Japanese, but you can see the school the boys broke into, as well as the goat which, thankfully, seems to be very much alive and well. Let’s hope that the goat stays that way, and in the meantime the three boys get both the punishment they deserve and the help they need.

Source: FNN News, 2channel Matome
Featured/top image: Flickr