The suspect turned himself in at a local police station around an hour after the attack began, carrying a bloodstained knife and cloth, officials said.

In a letter he wrote several months before the incident, seen by CNN, he said he had "the ability to kill 470 disabled people."

"I am aware that this is an outrageous thing to say," he wrote, adding that he dreamed "of a world where disabled people with severe difficulties socializing as well as severe difficulties at home are allowed to be peacefully euthanized."

The hospital failed to inform the care center when he was released, despite a request to do so. Extra security cameras had been set up around the facility, and police were informed about a potential problem with Uematsu, then an ex-employee.

Uematsu, who worked at the facility from 2012 until earlier this year, previously worked for a transportation company, and had trained to be a teacher.

While working at the home, he was cited for his work attitude but had no specific problems with the patients, a Prefectural official said at a press conference Wednesday.

Former colleagues said he was personable and good with children. Neighbors were shocked to hear of his involvement in the incident.

NHK also reported that he had had run-ins with the police -- last year he had fought and injured a man at a suburban Tokyo train station.

The surviving patients at the facility slept there last night, in the wings that he did not enter and, in the case of the male residents, in the gymnasium.

Serene location

The 7.5-acre site in the bucolic mountain town is home to 149 residents, ranging in age from teenagers to those in their 70s, according to the Kanagawa prefectural website. It can house a total of 160 people. Just under a third of those living at the facility are elderly.

A total of 222 people work at the facility, but only nine -- one of whom was a security guard -- were there when the incident occurred.

The incident sent shockwaves through Japan, where mass killings are rare.