Tokyo: Why did Abe Shinzo’s assassin commit the dastardly act?
The 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami was captured by the police as a suspect within moments of the former Japanese Prime Minister being shot in the chest while making a speech at an election campaign in Nara on Friday morning.
The assassin was apparently “dissatisfied” with Japan’s longest-serving PM and hence targeted him with the intention of killing him, Japanese news agency NHK reported citing police sources.
However, Yamagami’s grudge against Abe was not based on political beliefs.
The assassin, a former member of Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, shot at Abe with what looked like a homemade gun.
Explosives were found at the shooter’s house, officials said.
The world is in shock over Abe’s brutal murder, especially as Japan is a country which hardly has a history of gun violence.
Indian PM Narendra Modi, who was closely associated with Abe, declared a day’s national mourning in the latter’s honour on July 9.
“In the passing away of Mr Abe, Japan and the world have lost a great visionary. And, I have lost a dear friend,” Modi tweeted, and wrote a blog titled, ‘My friend, Abe San’.
