Satoshi Uematsu, born in 1990, is a Japanese man sentenced to death for the 2016 mass murder at Tsukui Yamayuri Garden, a facility for disabled individuals in Sagamihara. A former employee, his motive was his belief that severely disabled, non-communicative people are a burden and that their euthanasia would bring world peace. He was convicted in 2020 and is on death row, having filed for a retrial in 2022.

Raised near the facility, Uematsu showed early prejudice against disabled individuals. While academically capable and a basketball player in junior high, he also exhibited delinquent behavior and violence towards a disabled classmate. He transferred high schools and later graduated from Teikyo University with a teaching license but did not become a teacher. During university, he used drugs and associated with questionable groups. Before the incident, he lived alone after his parents moved.

Uematsu worked at Tsukui Yamayuri Garden from 2012 to 2016. Initially positive about the job, his views shifted after feeling unappreciated for helping a resident. He developed behavioral issues at work and became involved with tattoos and potentially drugs, leading to his dismissal from a tattoo apprenticeship due to disturbing statements about killing disabled people. He was also involved in an assault incident in 2015.

In February 2016, Uematsu wrote about his "New Japan Order" plan, including the murder of disabled individuals. He sent a threatening letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and another to Prime Minister Abe, outlining his attack plan on two facilities, aiming to kill 260 people. He demanded specific conditions upon arrest, including being declared innocent and financial support.

Despite the House reporting the letter to the police, the Tsukui Yamayuri Garden was slow to react. Uematsu further expressed his harmful ideology to colleagues, leading to his compulsory psychiatric hospitalization in February 2016. Diagnosed with drug-induced psychosis and personality disorders, he was discharged within weeks. He received unemployment and welfare benefits, the latter fraudulently.

Driven by a distorted sense of being targeted by the yakuza due to his pro-marijuana stance, Uematsu expedited his planned attack. He prepared by buying tools and on July 26, 2016, broke into Tsukui Yamayuri Garden, committing the mass murder. He tweeted a disturbing message before turning himself in. Post-arrest, he apologized to the victims' families but not the victims themselves, maintaining his prejudiced views. He tested positive for cannabis.

In custody, Uematsu expressed a belief in his immunity and that society should agree with him, bizarrely citing the Kyoto Animation arson as horrific. He consistently dehumanized disabled individuals in interviews, justifying his actions based on perceived societal burdens and citing influences like Donald Trump and ISIS. He later acknowledged his sanity but hoped for a lenient sentence, initially claiming his victims weren't human before finally offering a limited apology for the method of killing. While stating he deserved the death penalty but didn't want it, he ultimately did not intend to appeal his sentence.

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