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The man arrested for the murder of Shinzo Abe has said that the former Japanese leader ran a religious cult that brought about the financial ruin of his mother, Reuters writes, and that he had spent months planning the attack with the homemade weapon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Tetsuya Yamagami, a 41-year-old ex-soldier, was identified by police as the suspect who approached the former Japanese prime minister from behind and opened fire in the videotaped attack.<\/p>\n
The incident shocked the country where gun violence is considered rare.<\/p>\n
The lanky, bespectacled and tousled-haired killer is seen in the footage coming up behind Abe before firing the bullets from his 40-cm-long barreled gun, which he had wrapped in black insulation. He was stopped by the police at the scene.<\/p>\n
Yamagami, who neighbors said was a loner, believed Abe was the head of a religious cult to which his mother had made a “huge financial donation,” local Kyodo news agency reported, citing investigative sources.<\/p>\n
He later told the police that his mother went bankrupt because of the donation to the organization, according to the Yomiuri network.<\/p>\n
“My mother was very involved in this religious group and I despised that,” the suspect was quoted as saying by the Kyodo news agency. Police declined to comment on details about Yamagami’s motivation or planning for the killing.<\/p>\n
The media did not mention the group or religious cult in question.<\/p>\n
Yamagami had meanwhile created his own weapon with parts bought online, and waiting for the occasion for Abe’s campaign events.<\/p>\n
He is believed to have considered a bomb attack before choosing the firearm, local network NHK wrote.<\/p>\n
Yamagami lived on the eighth floor of an apartment building, where there is a large bar on the ground floor where he preferred to spend most of his time.<\/p>\n
A 69-year-old neighbor who lives one floor below him said she saw him three days before the murder.<\/p>\n
“I greeted him or he never answered. He just looked down and looked nervous, he was like an invisible man, it seemed that something was bothering him,” Nakayama told Reuters.<\/p>\n
A Vietnamese woman living on Yamagami’s floor who gave her name as Mai said he did not mix with others. “I saw him several times, I greeted him with my head in the elevator, but he didn’t say anything.”<\/p>\n
Tetsuya Yamagami reportedly served in the Japanese navy from 2002 to 2005, the navy reported.<\/p>\n
Yamagami was stationed at Sasebo, a major artillery base in the northwest of the country. He then served on a training ship in Hiroshima, according to reports.<\/p>\n
Investigations continue.<\/p>\n
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