(CNN) -- At least four people were injured Thursday after a man fired something resembling a hunting rifle in the city of Nakano in central Japan's Nagano prefecture, the country's public broadcaster NHK reported.

Police received a call late in the afternoon reporting that a "man had stabbed a woman," broadcaster NHK reported. When police responded to the scene, the man fired something resembling a hunting rifle, wounding four people before fleeing the scene and barricading himself in a building, NHK said.

NHK reports that the suspect is wearing a cap, top and camouflage pants, as well as sunglasses and a mask.

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The city of Nakano urged citizens to stay indoors in a tweet Thursday.

Gun violence is extremely rare in Japan. The country has one of the lowest rates of gun crime in the world due to its extremely strict gun control laws.

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In 2018, Japan, a country of 125 million people, reported only nine gun deaths; compared with 39,740 that year in the United States, according to data compiled by the University of Sydney's School of Public Health.

Shooting