Suspect says reason for killing Mr. Abe 'was not political'

Suspect used homemade gun

"The suspect confessed that he had a grudge against an organization and committed the crime because he believed that Mr. Shinzo Abe was related to that organization," a representative of Nara Prefectural Police said at a press conference on July 8 about the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The gun seen in the suspect’s hand in a photo taken at the scene shows signs of being assembled. The suspect told police that the weapon used in the assassination of Mr. Abe was a homemade gun. Photo:AP

Yamagami was about 5 meters away from Abe when he opened fire. Nara police said Yamagami confessed to using a homemade gun and said they were continuing to investigate the weapon. Photos released by Japanese media showed a homemade double-barreled gun made from steel pipes wrapped in tape.

Authorities searched the suspect's home and found several similar homemade guns. They described the gun as being 40cm long and about 20cm high, but have not weighed it due to concerns about the "risk of detonation".

Shinzo Abe showed no signs of life when he arrived at the hospital.

Hidetada, a professor of emergency medicine at Nara Medical University Fukushima Hospital, said that Mr. Abe had two wounds 5 cm apart in the neck area. In addition, a bullet had hit his heart. Although doctors performed an emergency blood transfusion, they were unable to stop the bleeding in time.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is carried on a stretcher to hospital after being shot in Nara city on July 8. Photo:AFP

Doctors said that although Mr. Shinzo Abe showed no signs of life when he arrived at the hospital on July 8, medical staff still performed emergency resuscitation procedures.

"Mr. Shinzo Abe was transferred to the hospital at 12:20. When he arrived, Mr. Abe was in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest," Professor Fukushima informed at a press conference at a hospital in Nara.

The doctor added that Mr. Abe had two serious chest wounds and internal bleeding. Mr. Abe was later confirmed dead at 5:03 p.m. (local time).

Security hole

The thin security forces, lack of vigilance, while the crowd could get too close were gaps that allowed the gunman to get close enough to shoot Mr. Shinzo Abe.

The scene where Mr. Abe was shot in Nara city on July 8. Photo:Reuters

Video and images from the moment before Mr Abe was shot show a large crowd surrounding the former Japanese prime minister at close range, while his bodyguards, who are members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Security Police Force, do not make any moves to keep Mr Abe away from the crowd.

Video footage from the scene showed that after Yamagami fired the first shot, the bodyguards around Mr. Abe barely reacted. While they were trying to determine what was going on, the suspect fired a second shot, causing Mr. Abe to collapse.

Only then did the bodyguards rush in to subdue the suspect with their bare hands. They carried guns at their waists, but did not draw them. At least one of the bodyguards protecting Mr. Abe was equipped with a bulletproof shield, but did not deploy it.