Tetsuya Yamagami and his homemade gun during his arrest on Friday July 8 in Nara. PA
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, 67, was delivering a speech in support of Kei Sato, a local Liberal Democratic Party candidate, at an intersection near a train station in Nara when he was attacked by a man who fired twice. The former leader died in the hospital where he was transported at noon (Tokyo time).
According to police sources quoted by Japanese media, the suspect arrested is a 41-year-old unemployed Japanese man named Tetsuya Yamagami. This Nara resident served for three years in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, the Japanese Navy, until 2005, according to local media, citing the Defense Ministry.
He would have made his own firearm, measuring about forty centimetres, while the restrictions on these guns in Japan are extremely strict and it is very difficult to get a license to carry a gun there. “The suspect claims so, and we’ve established it unequivocally: [l’arme à feu utilisée] is handmade in appearance; but our analysis is still ongoing,” a police officer from Nara region told reporters.
Intent to kill Shinzo Abe
According to NHK, after his arrest, Tetsuya Yamagami told investigators that he was “frustrated” with Mr. Abe and that he shot him with the intention of killing him. He “said he harbored a grudge against a certain organization and confessed to committing the crime because he believed former Prime Minister Abe was related to him,” a Nara-area police official said during an interview at a news conference.
According to the state broadcaster, police searched Tetsuya Yamagami’s home on Friday, where potentially explosive materials were found.
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