Abe, 67, was pronounced dead by doctors at Nara Medical University Hospital at 5:03 p.m. local time on Friday, just over five hours after he was shot while delivering a campaign speech to a small crowd on a street.
WHO IS THE SUSPECT?
Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, admitted to shooting Abe, Nara Nishi police said during a press conference on Friday. Yamagami, who is unemployed, told investigators he harbored hatred for a particular group he believed Abe was associated with. Police did not name the group. Yamagami is being investigated as a suspect in a murder case to which 90 investigators have been assigned, according to police.
WHAT KIND OF GUN WAS FIRED?
The suspect used an improvised weapon in the shooting, police said, and images from the scene showed it was a gun with two cylindrical metal barrels wrapped in black tape. Authorities later seized several handgun-like artifacts from the suspect’s apartment. The weapon was a gun-like object that was 40 centimeters (about 16 inches) long and 20 centimeters wide, police said. Yamagami made multiple types of weapons with iron pipes that were wrapped in duct tape, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported, citing police. The police found guns with three, five and six iron tubes as barrels. The suspect put bullets in the pipe, for which he had bought parts online, police said, according to NHK. Police believe the suspect used the most powerful weapon they made in the killing, NHK added.
HOW DID THE SECURITY FORCES REACT?
At the time of the shooting, Abe was speaking in support of ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) candidates ahead of the July 10 upper house election. Despite stepping down as Japan’s prime minister in 2020 for health reasons, Abe remained a powerful figure in the country’s political landscape and continued to campaign for the LDP. Japan’s National Police Agency said it would review security arrangements put in place before Friday’s shooting, according to NHK. Security was handled by the Nara Prefectural Police, who put together a security plan for the former prime minister while he was in the city. The agency said several dozen officers and security personnel from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police were on duty and were reportedly watching Abe from all sides during his speech, NHK reported.
