"Abe targeted, suspected of having ties to a religious group his mother was involved in" Abe shooting suspect presumed to have acted alone

On the 8th (local time), a man who shot former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with a firearm in Nara Prefecture, Japan, was subdued by security guards immediately after the crime. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Tetsuya Yamagami, who fatally shot former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, reportedly said he killed him because he believed Abe was connected to a religious group his mother was deeply involved in.

According to local media on the 9th, Yamagami stated during police questioning that "my mother became obsessed with the (religious) group and made many donations, which ruined our family life."

Yamagami mentioned the name of a specific religious group and said, "I intended to target the leader of this group, but it was difficult, so I targeted former Prime Minister Abe because I thought he was connected to that group," local media reported.

However, he added, "I had grievances against former Prime Minister Abe and intended to kill him, but it was not due to political ideology."

This has led to an analysis that he was not a politically motivated extremist targeting the right-wing former Prime Minister Abe, but rather a "lone wolf" (a terrorist acting alone) who acted independently for personal reasons.

The Mainichi Shimbun reported that the suspect also mentioned the name of an executive of the specific religious group, stating he intended to target this executive as well, but it is known that the executive mentioned by the suspect was not present at the crime scene.

The police seized a homemade gun wrapped in black tape at the crime scene, and during a search of his residence, they confiscated several homemade guns and explosives.

The suspect told the police, "I bought parts on the internet and made pistols myself. I made many pistols."

He served as a fixed-term member of the Maritime Self-Defense Force from 2002 to 2005, and it has been confirmed that he learned rifle shooting and disassembly and assembly at that time. The investigative authorities have determined that he was not affiliated with any specific political group or violent organization and committed the crime alone.