NARA — According to police, the man who killed Shinzo Abe spent months planning the attack with a homemade gun because he thought the former Japanese leader was associated with a religious organization that was responsible for his mother’s financial ruin.
On Friday, Tetsuya Yamagami, a 41-year-old unemployed man, was named as the suspect on suspicion of murder after footage repeatedly shown on Japanese television showed a man calmly approaching the country’s longest-serving prime minister from behind and firing.
Wiry, bespectacled, and sporting shaggy hair, the suspect was observed firing two shots from a 40 cm (16 inch) long weapon while standing behind Abe who was standing on a riser at an intersection. At the scene, police tackled him.
According to neighbors who spoke to Reuters, Yamagami was a recluse who never answered questions. He thought Abe had supported a charity that his mother had given to before going bankrupt, according to sources interviewed by Kyodo news agency.
He reportedly told police, according to Kyodo and other domestic media, “My mother got caught up in a religious group and I resented it.” The Nara police declined to comment on the specifics of Yamagami’s preparation or motivation as reported by the Japanese media.
He reportedly had issues with a religious organization, but the media has not named it.
Yamagami reportedly spent months planning the attack and even attended other Abe campaign events, including one that took place a day earlier some 200 km (miles) away. He then jury-rigged the weapon from parts he purchased online.
NHK, a Japanese public broadcaster, claims that the attacker thought about using a bomb before deciding on a gun.
According to NHK, the suspect claimed to have made guns out of steel pipes taped together, some of which had three, five, or six pipes, using components he had purchased online.
Police said on Saturday that they believe the bullet holes in a sign attached to a campaign van near the shooting site were from Yamagami. After the first shot, videos showed Abe turning toward the attacker before collapsing to the ground.
BAR HOSTESSA
Yamagami resided in a small apartment building on the eighth floor. There are numerous bars on the ground floor where customers pay to drink and interact with female hostesses. One karaoke bar closed its doors.
Three floors are where the elevator stops, which is a budget-friendly design. Yamagami would have needed to disembark and climb some stairs to get to his apartment.
Three days prior to Abe’s assassination, one of his neighbors, a 69-year-old woman who lived one floor below him, saw him.
“I greeted him, but he didn’t respond. He wasn’t wearing a mask and was simply staring down at the side of the ground. He appeared anxious, the woman told Reuters, using only her last name Nakayama. “I felt as if I were invisible. He gave the impression that something bothered him.
She estimates that her neighbors pay about the same as she does in rent, which is 35,000 yen ($260) per month.
Yamagami was described as appearing reclusive by a Vietnamese woman by the name of Mai who lived two doors down from Yamagami. I had a few encounters with him. In the elevator, I bowed to him, but he said nothing.
EXPERIENCE WITH NAVY GUN
A spokesman for the Japanese navy said that Tetsuya Yamagami served in the Maritime Self-Defence Force from 2002 to 2005, but he would not confirm that he was the alleged murderer.
The spokesperson stated that this Yamagami joined a training unit at Sasebo, a significant navy base in the southwest, and was assigned to a destroyer artillery section. Later, he was put in charge of a training vessel in Hiroshima.
Members of the Self-Defense Force train with live ammunition once a year while they are in the service. Additionally, they repair and maintain guns, a senior navy officer told Reuters.
It’s difficult to believe they learn enough to be able to make guns, he said, as they are obeying orders when they do it. Even veteran soldiers in the military “don’t know how to make guns.”
After leaving the navy, Yamagami signed up with a staffing agency, and in late 2020 she began working as a forklift operator at a factory in Kyoto, according to the Mainichi newspaper.
He was trouble-free up until the middle of April, when, according to the newspaper, he skipped work without authorization and informed his boss that he wanted to resign. He finished on May 15 after using up his vacation time. ($1 = 136.0800 yen)
