TOKYO, July 10 — The suspect arrested for shooting former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe told police he had tried to make a bomb, Sputnik reported, quoting the Kyodo news agency report citing investigative sources.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, also said 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 attacked on Friday morning in the Japanese city of Nara while making a campaign speech. Yamagami approached the politician from behind and fired two shots from a distance of about 10 metres (33 feet). Police said Abe was conscious but his condition worsened on the way to the hospital and he became critical “with cardiac and pulmonary arrest”. Later in the day, Nara Medical University hospital pronounced him dead.
According to Kyodo, Yamagami was handed over to prosecutors on Sunday. Asked about his motive, he said his mother had made a “huge donation” to a religious organisation which he believed was associated with Abe, and he harboured a grudge against the group.
Sources told Kyodo that Yamagami allegedly said that he initially intended to attack “an executive of the group,” but changed his mind and decided to target Abe instead.
