Police Say Motive Behind Former PM Shinzo Abe's Assassination Wasn't Political

Japanese police have said they don’t think the alleged assassin who shot dead former prime minister Shinzo Abe on Friday, 8 July, was politically motivated. 

Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, has been named as Abe’s suspected killer, and law enforcement officials say the attack may have been carried out the because he thought the former prime minister was involved in a ‘specific organisation’.

Yamagami was tackled to the ground mere moments after he allegedly shot Abe with what police say was a homemade weapon.

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According to the New York Post, Yamagami was a resident of Nara, the western region of Japan where 67-year-old Abe was delivering his speech ahead of the weekend. 

During an interview with investigators, Yamagami allegedly admitted he’d plotted to kill the former prime minister because he thought Abe was ‘connected to an organisation that he bore a grudge against’.

The New York Post also notes that police have yet to reveal the name of the organisation Yamagami allegedly referred to, nor have they elaborated on what the group believes in or whether it actually exists.

Police also said that Yamagami was ‘calm’ while answering questions and investigators are still trying to establish whether he acted alone. 

UNILAD has approached the Nara Prefectural Police for comment. 

Abe died after being shot twice while giving a campaign speech on behalf of political candidate Kei Sato.

He suffered wounds to the right side of his neck and to the left collarbone, before being rushed to hospital where he received a blood transfusion.

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Doctors spent four and a half hours trying to save him but later announced Abe bled to death. No vital signs were detected by the time he arrived at the hospital.

He had been speaking outside a train station when the attack occurred, with footage of the incident showing the former prime minister collapsing after shots were fired.

Abe was Japan's longest serving prime minister, having been in office for a first stint between 2006 and 2007 and then from 2012 to 2020 before stepping down for health reasons.

Fumio Kishida, the current prime minister of Japan, served as Minister for Foreign Affairs in Abe's government between 2012 and 2017 and described the shooting as 'dastardly, barbaric and absolutely unforgivable'.

Tributes to Abe have poured in from major figures across the world.

Departing British prime minister Boris Johnson condemned the 'despicable attack', while US ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel praised Abe as an 'outstanding leader of Japan'.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi called Abe a 'towering global statesman' and a 'remarkable administrator'.

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