A robbery and murder case allegedly involving a US Marine in Japan has left local residents “worried,” as the Japanese prime minister on Wednesday again expressed “outrage” over the incident.

Japan saw protests and widespread outrage after Lance Cpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, assigned to Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in the southernmost Okinawa prefecture, was suspected of killing Anna Yagi, 39, at a hotel in Naha’s Wakasa district last Saturday.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told Okinawa Gov. Genta Koja on Wednesday that Japan “intends to take preventive steps with the United States” following the murder, Kyodo News reported.

Takaichi again expressed “outrage” over the incident, while Koja said the case had “left residents in his prefecture worried.”

Koja sought full cooperation from the US side in the investigation.

Ballard has denied involvement and has since been sent to prosecutors.

The Okinawa governor also met Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and urged him to take “effective and fundamental” measures following the incident in the prefecture, which hosts the majority of US military facilities in Japan.

Approximately 50,000 to 55,000 US military personnel are currently stationed in Japan under the US-Japan Security Treaty, which was originally signed in 1951 and revised in 1960.

Amid the outrage, US forces in Okinawa imposed a 48-hour operational pause, a complete alcohol ban, restrictions on off-base liberty and a midnight-to-5 am curfew for one month following the arrest of the US Marine on suspicion of murder.

US Forces Okinawa Area Coordinator Lt. Gen. Benjamin Watson, joined by US Marine Air Ground Task Force Sgt. Maj. Christopher Adams, met US military leaders Wednesday to “reinforce expectations for the operational pause, period of reflection, standards, discipline, and responsible liberty,” according to a statement. (AA)