were found in the area. Grass and trees had withered and the trees' leaves had discoloured. Nearly all of the casualties had been discovered within a radius of 150 metres from the centre, near the pond. People near open windows or in air-conditioned rooms had been exposed to the aerosol. Forensic investigation using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry revealed that the poison was the nerve agent sarin. The fatalities included Yutaka Kobayashi, a 23-year-old salaryman, and Mii Yasumoto, a 29-year-old medical school student. Investigation Police received an anonymous tip implicating Aum after the attacks, but the sect was not officially implicated in the incident until after the later Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995. One section of the tip read, "Matsumoto was definitely an experiment of sorts. The result of this experiment in an open space: seven dead, over 200 injured. If sarin is released in an enclosed space, say, a crowded subway it is easy to imagine a massive catastrophe." After the incident, police focused their investigation on Yoshiyuki Kōno, whose wife was a victim put in a coma by the aerosol. It was discovered that Kōno had stored a large amount of pesticide in his residence. Although it was later proven that sarin cannot be manufactured from pesticides, Keiichi Tsuneishi, a Japanese historian, claimed the nerve agent is synthesizable from organophosphorus pesticides, and Kōno was dubbed by some in the media "the Poison Gas Man". He subsequently received hate mail, death threats, and intense legal pressure. After the truth became known, every major Japanese newspaper apologized to Kōno, including those that had not named him as a suspect. After the Tokyo attack, the blame was shifted to the cult Aum. Matsumoto's police chief, on behalf of the police department and media, publicly apologized to Kōno. Kōno's wife later awoke from her coma, but recovered neither speech nor body movement; she died in 2008. Several Aum members were found guilty of masterminding both incidents. 13 Aum members, including cult leader Shoko Asahara, were sentenced to death, and were executed in 2018. Combined, the attacks resulted in 21 deaths and thousands of hospitalizations and outpatient treatments. References Attacks by Aum Shinrikyo 1994 murders in Japan Chemical weapons attacks Heisei period June 1994 crimes June 1994 events in Asia Mass murder in 1994 Massacres in Japan Matsumoto, Nagano Terrorist incidents in Asia in 1994 Terrorist incidents in Japan in 1994