Man who killed Shinzo Abe tried to make bomb, owned multiple guns

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The man who shot and killed former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe confessed to the police that he had tried to make a bomb, Kyodo news agency reported, citing investigative sources.

Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, also mentioned that he "made multiple guns," the sources told Kyodo on Sunday, adding that police have found and confiscated guns at the attacker’s home in Nara, similar to the gun used by the shooter on Friday.

Abe was targeted on Friday morning in the Japanese city of Nara during his campaign speech. Yamagami approached the politician from behind and fired two shots from a distance of about 10 meters.

Police said Abe was conscious immediately after being wounded, but then, during transportation, his condition became critical "with cardiac and pulmonary arrest." Later in the day, Nara Medical University hospital pronounced him dead.

According to Kyodo, Yamagami was sent to prosecutors on Sunday. Asked about his motive, the perpetrator claimed that his mother had made a "huge donation" to a religious organization that he believed was associated with Abe, growing a grudge against the group.

Sources told the news agency that Yamagami said that he initially intended to attack "an executive of the group," but changed his mind and decided to target the former prime minister instead.

Abe, Japan's longest-serving Prime Minister, served for one year in 2006 and again from 2012 to 2020 until being forced to resign due to the debilitating bowel condition ulcerative colitis.

It is worth noting that Japan has some of the strictest gun-control regulations in the world, and yearly firearm deaths in the country of 125 million people are often in the single digits.

Even for Japanese nationals, obtaining a gun license is a lengthy and complicated process that requires a recommendation from a shooting association and extensive police checks.