Shooter Targeted Shinzo Abe Over Grudge Against Religious Group, Police Say
Tetsuya Yamagami is said to have told investigators he initially planned to target a leader of the religious group before settling on Abe.
Kyodo via Reuters
The man accused of assassinating former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has reportedly told investigators he targeted Abe because he suspected he had ties to a religious group that took a “huge donation” from his mother. Law enforcement sources cited by Kyodo News said the suspect, identified as 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, had first planned to attack a leader of the unnamed religious group before settling on Abe instead. Yamagami is said to have told police the killing had nothing to do with politics. Homemade guns and items thought to be explosives were found during a search of Yamagami’s home on Friday, just hours after he allegedly used a homemade firearm to gun Abe down in front of a crowd watching him deliver a campaign speech in the city of Nara. Sources cited by Kyodo News said Yamagami admitted to traveling to another city a day earlier where Abe had also given a campaign speech. The police chief of the prefecture where the shocking killing took place admitted on Saturday that there were “problems” with the safety measures taken and took full responsibility for the lapses that led to Abe’s death.
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