According to investigators, the man who assassinated Shinzo Abe spent months plotting the assassination with a handmade gun because he thought the former Japanese leader was associated with a religious organization that was responsible for his mother’s financial downfall.
On Friday, Tetsuya Yamagami, a 41-year-old unemployed man, was named as the suspect on suspicion of murder after footage repeatedly replayed on Japanese television showed a man calmly approaching the country’s longest-serving prime minister from behind and firing.
Wiry, bespectacled, and sporting scruffy hair, the suspect was observed firing two bullets from a 40 cm (16 inch) long weapon while standing behind Abe who was standing on a riser at a crossroads. At the scene, officers tackled him.
According to neighbors who talked to reporters, 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 people interviewed by the 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 loathed that.” 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, although the media has not mentioned it.
Yamagami reportedly spent months planning the attack and even attended other Abe campaign rallies, including one that took place a day earlier some 200 km (miles) away. He then jury-rigged the weapon from pieces he purchased online.
NHK, a Japanese public station, claims that the attacker thought about using a bomb before deciding on a gun.
According to NHK, the suspect claimed to have manufactured firearms out of steel pipes taped together, some of which had three, five, or six pipes, using components he had purchased online.
Police stated on Saturday that they suspect the bullet holes on a sign mounted 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 HOSTESS
Yamagami resided in a tiny apartment building on the eighth level. There are numerous bars on the bottom floor where customers pay to drink and interact with female hostesses. One karaoke bar closed its doors.
Three levels are where the elevator ends, which is a budget-friendly design. Yamagami would have needed to disembark and climb several stairs to get to his apartment.
Three days prior to Abe’s assassination, a 69-year-old woman who lived one floor below him, one of his neighbors, spotted him.
“He didn’t respond when I said hi. He wasn’t wearing a mask and was simply staring down at the side of the ground. He appeared uneasy, “the woman told reporters, using only her last name Nakayama.”I felt as though I were invisible. He gave the impression that something bothered him.”
She pays 35,000 yen ($260) in rent each month, and she estimates that her neighbors pay a similar amount.
Yamagami was described as appearing reclusive by a Vietnamese woman by the name of Mai who lived two doors down from Yamagami. “He appeared to me a few times. In the elevator, I bowed to him, but he said nothing.”
EXPERIENCE WITH NAVY GUN
A representative for the Japanese navy said that Tetsuya Yamagami served in the Maritime Self-Defense Force from 2002 to 2005, but he would not confirm that he was the alleged murderer.
The spokeswoman stated that this Yamagami joined a training unit at Sasebo, a significant navy station in the southwest, and was assigned to a destroyer artillery section. Later, he was put in charge of a training vessel at Hiroshima.
“Members of the Self-Defense Force train with live ammunition once a year while they are in the service. They also perform repairs and upkeep on firearms, “Reporters were informed by a senior navy officer.
It’s difficult to imagine they learn enough to be able to create guns, he continued, given they are obeying commands when they do it. Even veteran soldiers in the military “don’t know how to produce guns.”
After leaving the navy, Yamagami signed up with an employment agency, and in late 2020 he 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 manager that he wanted to resign. He finished on May 15 after using all his vacation time.
