The identity of the assassin who killed Shinzo Abe has been revealed as Tetsuya Yamagami, a former member of Japan’s Navy.
The suspected killer believed the former Japanese Prime Minister had links to an unidentified religious group he blamed for his mother’s financial breakdown, police told local media on Saturday.
“My mother got wrapped up in a religious group, and I resented it,” domestic media among them Kyodo News Agency has quoted him as telling police.
He says that his mother used to donate to the said religious group until she became bankrupt.
Tetsuya Yamagami spent months planning the attack with a homemade gun before accomplishing his mission on Friday.
The 41-year-old told the police that he had initially planned to attack the leader of the religious group which he says had ruined their family’s life.
The former member of the Maritime Self-Defence Force, Yamagani “wrapped steel pipes together with tape” to make guns after buying the parts on the internet.
Other homemade guns and suspected explosives were found in his room after investigations.
Yamagani shot twice at Abe with videos showing Abe turning toward the attacker after the first shot before falling down after the second.
Apparently, Yamagani had contemplated a bomb attack before opting for a gun, according to NHK World-Japan.
Navy gun experience
A person by the name of Tetsuya Yamagami served in the Japan Navy from 2002 to 2005, Japan’s navy spokesperson said, however declining to confirm whether this was the suspected killer, as reported by the media.
According to the Navy spokesperson, this Yamagami joined a training unit in Sasebo, a major navy base in southwest Japan, and was assigned to a destroyer artillery section. He was later designated to a training ship in Hiroshima.
A senior Navy official revealed that during their service, members of the Self-Defence Force train with live ammunition and also “do breakdowns and maintenance of guns,” while following orders but “it’s hard to believe they gain enough knowledge to be able to make guns.”
“Even army soldiers who serve for a long time don’t know how to make guns,” the officer added.
