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Shinzo Abe's suspected killer used handmade gun, held grudge against ex-Japan PM: Police
Tetsuya Yamgami, the suspected killer of Shinzo Abe, admitted targeting him and said he held a grudge against an organisation he believed the politician was connected to, police said.
The suspected killer of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said he had used a handmade gun on Friday, according to the police. The police named the suspected killer as unemployed 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami.
Yamagami told the police said he held a grudge against an organisation he believed the politician was connected to.
"That's the suspect's assertion, and we have determined that (the gun) is clearly handmade in appearance, although our analysis is currently ongoing," news agency AFP quoted a police officer in Nara region as saying.
"The suspect stated that he held a grudge against a particular organisation, and that he committed the crime because he believed former prime minister Abe had a connection to it," the senior police officer said, declining to give further details.
NHK said he told police after his arrest that he "targeted Abe with the intention of killing him".
Abe was assassinated on a street in western Japan by a gunman who opened fire on him from behind as he delivered a campaign speech — an attack that stunned the nation that has some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere.
Abe, 67, who was Japan’s longest-serving leader when he resigned in 2020, collapsed bleeding and was airlifted to a nearby hospital in Nara, although he was not breathing and his heart had stopped. He was later pronounced dead after receiving massive blood transfusions, officials said.
A dramatic video from NHK showed Abe standing and giving a speech outside a train station in Nara ahead of Sunday's parliamentary election. As he raised his fist to make a point, two gunshots rang out, and he collapsed holding his chest, his shirt smeared with blood as security guards run toward him.
Guards leapt onto the gunman, who was face down on the pavement. A double-barreled device that appeared to be a handmade gun was seen on the ground.
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Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Cabinet ministers hastily returned to Tokyo from campaign events around the country after the shooting, which he called “dastardly and barbaric." He pledged that the election, which chooses members for Japan's less-powerful upper house of parliament, would go on as planned.
“I use the harshest words to condemn (the act),” Kishida said, struggling to control his emotions. He said the government planned to review the security situation, but added that Abe had the highest protection.
Several outlets described Yamagami as a former member of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, the country's navy.
