Police officers earlier today kept a lookout for an apartment where a suspected gangster was believed to have barricaded himself in Machida, on the outskirts of Tokyo. A series of gangster-related shootings rattled Tokyo and left one man dead Friday, just days after the nation was stunned by the brazen slaying of the mayor of Nagasaki city by a mafia boss. ITSUO INOUYE | Associated Press

The violence came days after the mayor of Nagasaki was gunned down by a reputed mobster, in an unrelated killing. Crime syndicates are overwhelmingly responsible for Japan's rare gun attacks.

The events began Friday when the suspected gangster fatally shot a rival on the street in a western suburb of the capital, said local police official Yukio Tonose.

The shooter then barricaded himself inside his own apartment, firing a series of shots toward surrounding officers, said a Tokyo Metropolitan Police spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity, under police protocol.