FOCUS – Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, a former member of the Japanese army, originally wanted to target a Moon sect executive, according to local media.
The man would not have – quite – premeditated his act. This is at least what a Japanese political columnist presumes, the day after the assassination of Shinzo Abe, former Prime Minister of Japan, during a public meeting in Nara on Friday July 8. Indeed, Shinzo Abe was originally supposed to hold his political rally in another prefecture, when his party officials changed the location on the eve of the event. “This change of schedule at the last minute shows that the killer did not premeditate his act”, writes the editorialist Takao Toshikawa. Other local media, however, say the man originally wanted to assassinate an executive of the Moon sect, whose headquarters were located within walking distance of the crime scene.
So what could have led this man, around 11:30 a.m. on Friday, to shoot Shinzo Abbe twice, aiming him in the neck and in the side? And what do we know about his profile?
SEE ALSO – “When he arrived, he had two bullet wounds in his neck”, says the doctor after the death of Shinzo Abe
As soon as the shots were fired, the protection service rushed on the shooter, who had fled. The presumed assassin is then quickly identified: his name is Tetsuya Yamagami. Aged 41, currently unemployed, he had worked between 2002 and 2005 for the Japanese naval forces. It was there that he would have learned how to make a homemade weapon. Indeed, according to the investigators, Tetsuya Yamagami would have used a weapon “home-made”, which he still held in his hand when he was arrested. News agency photos indeed show an object in the shape of a revolver wrapped in large black tape.
More recently, he worked at a factory in western Japan for about a year and a half, but quit last May, according to local media. “His attitude at work had not been a problem. I am surprised and shocked”said his former superior to the daily Mainichi.
Police also raided the home of Tetsuya Yamagami on Friday and confiscated “several handicrafts resembling guns”. The man is suspected of having made at least one of these weapons several months ago, according to the Jiji agency, which also reported that the suspect had participated in live ammunition firing exercises in the navy.
Former college mates, interviewed by public broadcaster NHK, described him as calm but not lonely, good at sports as well as studies.
The Moon sect initially targeted?
In front of the police, Tetsuya Yamagami does not take long to confess his crime. But his motives remain ambiguous. According to NHK, Tetsuya Yamagami told investigators that he was ” frustrated “ vis-à-vis Shinzo Abe and that he shot him with the intention of killing him. He “said he harbored a grudge against a certain organization and he confessed to committing the crime because he believed former Prime Minister Abe was related to him”a Nara area police official said at a press conference.
Read alsoAssassination of Shinzo Abe: Japanese police recognize “undeniable” security flaws
Later, however, local media mentioned the name “the Unification Church“, better known in the West under the name of the Moon sect.
According to NHK and the daily Mainichi, quoted by the correspondent of BFMTV, the mother of the assassin would have herself been enrolled in this sect, and spent a large sum of family money in donations. According to the Kyodo agency, which cites sources close to the investigation, the assassin would then have initially thought of attacking one of the executives of this sect, whose headquarters is located a few meters from the public meeting held by Shinzo Abe.
The executive in question not having come, Tetsuya Yamagami would have decided at the last moment to target the former Japanese nationalist prime minister, thinking that the latter had links with this religious group, also known for its nationalist positions.
For now, however, the police refuse to name the name of the organization in question.
According to the police, Tetsuya Yamagami learned on the internet of Shinzo Abe’s visit to Nara. He would have gone by train to the station in front of which the former Prime Minister was giving a speech.
SEE ALSO – ‘I can’t believe it’: grief and disbelief in Tokyo after Shinzo Abe’s assassination