Bizarre motive of Abe 'slayer'
Blamed Japan pol for family woe
The man accused of gunning down Shinzo Abe believed the former Japanese prime minister was linked to a religious group he blamed for breaking up his family and causing his mother’s bankruptcy, police said Saturday.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, told police his original intention was to attack the leader of the group, which authorities declined to name.
“My mother got wrapped up in a religious group and I resented it,” Japan’s Kyodo news agency quoted him as telling police. He reportedly said that his mother had made a “huge donation” to the group.
Planned for months
Japan’s longest serving prime minister was killed Friday during a campaign stop near a train station in the western city of Nara shortly after he began his speech.
Yamagami was arrested at the scene, wielding a homemade gun.
Initial reports said Yamagami believed Abe was tied to a “specific organization,” but did not describe its religious nature.
Although the organization was unnamed in the media, Kyodo reported that an official at the religious group confirmed that Yamagami’s mother was a longtime believer. The official did not know about her financial situation.
Police also revealed that Yamagami, an unemployed former member of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, spent months planning the attack, and hit up other locations where Abe campaigned, including the city of Okayama more than 120 miles from Nara, on Thursday.
He told police that politics had nothing to do with the attack.
Yamagami had considered a bomb attack before opting for a gun, according to public broadcaster NHK. In a search of his home Friday, police found explosives and homemade guns, including ones similar to the weapon used in the attack.
Police are investigating if he acted alone.
Officials Saturday said autopsy results showed that a bullet that entered Abe’s upper left arm damaged arteries beneath both collar bones, causing fatal massive bleeding.
Condolences
Abe’s body was returned to his home in Tokyo on Saturday as the country continued to receive condolences from leaders around the world.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who early on had a frosty relationship with Abe, sent a condolence message Saturday, a day after most other world leaders issued their statements.
Xi credited Abe with making efforts to improve China-Japan relations and said he and Abe had reached an important understanding on building better ties.
Abe’s widow, Akie Abe, traveled with her husband’s body to their home. Their car arrived to throngs of people lining the streets near Abe’s home.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, an Abe protege, visited the residence after the motorcade’s arrival, Kyodo reported.