"Improvised, yet deadly": How did the shooter in Shinzo Abe produce the weapon?
According to the 41-year-old shooter, a former Navy man, he used a homemade rifle.
Photos from the scene show an improvised two-barreled weapon covered in black masking tape.
Weapons experts: "You can learn today about making guns in 3D printers and making bombs online ... you can do it in two or three days ..."
Tali Goldstein
10/07/2022
Sunday, 10 July 2022, 11:45 Updated: 12:05
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The man accused of assassinating former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday was arrested immediately after the act by police.
According to Japanese police, 41-year-old Tatsuya Yamagami is unemployed who did not object to the arrest, and admitted to shooting Baba with a homemade weapon during an election event held in the city of Nara.
According to Yamagami, he served in the Japanese Navy, the Navy's Self-Defense Forces (MSDF), for three years - from 2002-2005, where he learned how to assemble and disassemble weapons.
Most recently, he worked in a factory in western Japan for about a year and a half and resigned in May, according to Japanese media.
"His approach to the job was not problematic. I am surprised and shocked," his former manager told the Mainichi Shimbon newspaper.
According to police, Yamagami spoke of the murder indifferently without expressing emotion.
Arrest of suspect in shooting (Photo: Reuters)
His middle school classmates interviewed by the NHK public network said the suspect was a quiet but not lonely man, and excelled in sports and academia.
"The suspect stated that he held a grudge against a particular organization and that he committed the crime because he believed the former prime minister, Abe, was connected to him," police said.
A 70-year-old relative of Yamagami, who lives in Osaka province, told the Asahi Shimbon newspaper that the suspect "has been through a difficult time since he was a child due to the religious group his mother joined."
The name of the organization was not published.
Yamagami lives in Nara, with his parents, an older brother and a younger sister.
His father ran a construction company and died when Imagami was a child.
His mother began to run the company, but began to donate large sums to the religious group.
A relative said she was looking for an answer to the meaning of life through the group.
"She was a widow, I share that she feels insecure about the future," he said.
He said he began receiving phone calls from the three children who said there was nothing to eat at home.
He gave them money, and sometimes brought them food.
Yamagami attended high school in Nara which is considered a prestigious high school due to the high rate of graduates from it who were admitted to elite universities.
He then attended a technical school and joined the Japanese Navy.
His mother filed for bankruptcy, and her company closed in 2009.
According to a relative, he last saw Yamagami in 2005.
In the video: Assassination in Japan: Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead during his speech (Walla system)
Yamagami initially planned to assassinate the head of the organization but later changed the plan to the former prime minister, who he claimed promoted the organization in Japan, according to a Kyodo News report.
The 41-year-old told police he had been planning the attack for months.
He said he used a homemade rifle.
Photos from the scene show an improvised two-barreled weapon covered in black masking tape.
Police also reported that they confiscated a motorcycle and a car that belonged to Yamagami.
In the car, police found trays wrapped in aluminum foil, which he said he used to shoot the gunpowder to dry, and wooden boards with holes he used, he claimed, as targets for firing a homemade weapon he made himself.
Former Japanese Prime Minister's impromptu weapon (Photo: Reuters)
According to the suspicion, Yamagami produced at least one weapon a few months ago.
According to the Gigi news agency, he participated in live shooting drills while in the Navy.
Police said the shooter revealed about Abba Benara's visit on social media.
He apparently took a train to the station where Abba delivered a political speech.
According to police, Yamagami admitted that he searched the internet for instructions for making weapons, and ordered spare parts and gunpowder online.
The
40-20 cm pistol, made from materials such as metal and wood pipes, said senior Nara police officials. Police did not rule out the possibility that the bullets were also homemade. Five weapons were confiscated at Yamagami's home.
"Dimension and manufacturing of bombs on the Internet," Mitsuru Fukuda, a professor at Nihon University, told Reuters. "It can be done in two or three days."
"Improvised, yet deadly, hand-made ... such weapons are simple to manufacture," said N.R.
Jensen-Jones, a weapons specialist at the Australian Research Institute Armament Research Services.
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