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The killer of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been identified as Tetsuya Yamagami, a 40-year-old man. During the interrogation after his arrest, he confessed that he carried out the attack against the former president because he believed that the leader was part of a religious organization that he repudiated.
The police of the Japanese country expressed not being certain about the existence of the organization alleged by the alleged perpetrator of the assassination against Shinzo Abe, Tetsuya Yamagami, so they will delve into this issue during the investigations that are still trying to determine if the attacker acted alone or It was part of some criminal structure.
To carry out the investigations and deliberate the origin of the cause that led the 40-year-old man to shoot the former Japanese prime minister, the Police assigned a platoon of 90 agents to carry out the expertise around the case.
In addition, the authorities reported that Yamagami’s apartment was searched this Friday afternoon, where they found various homemade weapons similar to the one used by the suspect to shoot the former premier. It would be “a pistol made by himself after buying parts on the internet,” according to the police report.
Given the presence of presumed explosives in the shooter’s house, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) personnel were sent to review the objects found with the highest security measures. The officials asked the neighbors to move away from the place and seek some emergency shelter.
It was also revealed that the suspect was a resident of Nara, the city in the west of the country where the assassination took place; and although the alleged perpetrator was currently unemployed, he had been working for three years in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces.
Attack and subsequent transfer to Abe’s hospital
After the two explosions that were heard during the speech that Abe offered in a public electoral act, the former prime minister was injured and had to be evacuated in an emergency to a medical helicopter, which transferred him to the emergency room of the Medical University hospital. Nara, where he underwent surgery to try to save his life, although his state of cardiorespiratory arrest prevented the tasks of the medical staff from taking effect.
As soon as the attack occurred, people who were close to the alleged murderer tried to stop him. In the images taken at the time, a man in a black suit can be seen who grabbed the man as he ran and later two others rushed to help. Within minutes of articulating his homemade weapon he was taken into custody by authorities.
The head of the emergency department, Hidetada Fukushima, reported hours later that Abe had not survived due to having suffered significant damage to his heart, in addition to two neck injuries that affected an artery and a wound in his left shoulder, so it was impossible for him to regain vital signs.
“We managed to control the bleeding from the main artery, but unfortunately we were not able to revive him,” Fukushima said.
Abe was treated in the emergency room for four and a half hours by 20 medical staff, who reported they were unable to revive him so he could be transferred to intensive care.
Gun control in Japan
This deadly attack has had a strong impact on Japanese society, since armed violence is very scarce and rare in the country, a product of the severe laws and control of firearms in force in the territory.
The country, a member of the G7, is the member of the group with the lowest level of possession of weapons per inhabitant. Only 0.3 per 100 people, according to data from the ‘Small Arms Survey’.
All those who request permission to possess a weapon must have a license and pass different mental health, drug and criminal background tests. If they are approved, they must then go through training, undergo a written test and an evaluation at the shooting range.
In addition, the Police must be informed of the place where the citizen stores the weapon and the ammunition and these must be kept under lock and key and separately.
Weapons are subject to inspection once a year and the license expires after three years, so owners must go through the process again to renew the permit.
Among the most relevant attacks against politicians in the country are the one perpetrated in 1960 against Shinzo Abe’s grandfather, who was stabbed and seriously injured when he was prime minister; and in 2007 the case of the mayor of the city of Nagasaki, who was shot dead by an organized crime gang.
With information from AP and Reuters
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