A motorcade carrying the body of assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has arrived at his Tokyo residence. There, his colleagues from the Liberal Democratic Party, dressed in black, were waiting to pay their respects, AFP reported.
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The bomber, a 41-year-old former member of the Japanese navy, made no attempt to escape and was apprehended at the scene. He believed Abe belonged to a religious group that bankrupted his mother, according to a report from investigators on Saturday. He had been planning the attack for months.
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The attacker initially considered a bomb attack
According to neighbors, the attacker was a loner and did not respond when approached. The Kyodo agency wrote that he believed Abe belonged to a religious group that his mother contributed to when she lost everything. “Mother got involved with a religious group that I hated,” Yamagami told police, according to Kyodo and other Japanese media. But the name of the group was not mentioned by the media.
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The NHK station reported that the man was initially thinking about a bomb attack. He told officers that he ended up making several guns out of pipes and parts bought online.
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A Japanese navy official said a man named Tecuja Yamagami served in the navy from 2002 to 2005, but did not confirm he was the Nara shooter. He went through training in the army and was assigned to an artillery unit on a destroyer and then to a training ship in Hiroshima.
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“On duty, military members train with ammunition once a year and also disassemble and maintain weapons. It’s hard to believe that they will gain enough knowledge to make the weapon themselves,” a Navy representative said. According to him, even those who serve for a long time do not know how to make a rifle.
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Yamagami started working at the Kyoto factory on a forklift the year before and had no problems until this April. But then he left work without permission and told his superior that he wanted to quit, the newspaper Mainiči Shimbun wrote.
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An overnight vigil will be held on Monday and Abe’s funeral is planned for Tuesday. Only the closest friends will attend, Japanese media reported. It is not yet clear whether there will be any public memorial service.
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Striker Tecuja Yamagami is to be brought before a prosecutor on Sunday.
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Police admits security loopholes
Police said an autopsy revealed the bullet entered Abe’s upper left arm and damaged arteries near both collarbones, causing massive bleeding.
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The media and witnesses pointed out that not enough security personnel were seen during Abe’s political campaign speech outside Nara Station.
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Nara Police Chief Tomoaki Onizuka admitted at a press conference that the event was not adequately secured. “Given the way it ended, they can’t deny there were problems. I feel a great responsibility,” said Onizuka.
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Former police investigator Fumikazu Higuchi said that television footage showed that there were few police officers at the scene, and that given the former prime minister, security measures were insufficient. “It needs to be investigated why the police let Yamagami move freely and get behind Abe,” Higuchi said.
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Other experts cited by the AP pointed out that Abe should have stood on the back of the car, as is done at such events, and not on the ground. Organizers say they didn’t have time to prepare because Abe’s speech was only announced a day in advance.
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Yamagami fired the first shot shortly after the speech began, but missed. Abe turned to the source of the sound and at that moment a second shot rang out. It hit Abe’s left arm and missed a bulletproof briefcase that was picked up by a guard standing behind the former prime minister.
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Abe’s murder was condemned by representatives of a number of countries, including US President Joe Biden, who spoke by phone with Japanese Prime Minister Fumi Kishida on Friday. “President Biden called Japanese Prime Minister Kishida to express his outrage, sadness and sincere condolences regarding the tragic and violent death of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,” the White House said in a statement.
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