Tetsuya Yamagami, the 41-year-old man who shot dead Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe, admitted to the crime and said the motivation for the killing was hatred against a “specific organization” he believed the political party would be on, the Japanese police said on Friday (8).
The name of this organization has not been released. Abe was shot while speaking during a campaign event for the Japanese legislative elections in the western Japanese city of Nara.
According to Nikkei Asia, Yamagami said he learned where Abe was from a website that reported on the former Japanese prime minister’s political agenda. The arrested man told officers the crime had nothing to do with Abe’s political views.
Yamagami served in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force for three years, between 2002 and 2005, and most recently worked at a factory in the Kansai region of western Japan, from which he resigned in May. A former colleague told Nikkei Asia that Yamagami was quiet at work and did not express political views.
Police confirmed that the weapon used by Yamagami was handmade. Other weapons he made and explosives were found in the shooter’s apartment. Neighbors were evacuated from the building while police searched the site for the risk of explosions.
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