Japan: Ex-PM Shinzo Abe's shooter checked YouTube to learn how to make homemade guns

The man identified as Tetsuya Yamagami, who killed former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, checked YouTube when he was making the firearm used in the attack, Kyodo News reported citing investigative sources. Yamagami said that he had tested a homemade gun at a facility related to a religious group he believed was connected to former Japanese PM Abe. The Nara prefectural police have said that Tetsuya Yamagami tested the weapon before assassinating Shinzo Abe. 

The investigative sources have also revealed that the weapon designed to shoot Abe had been made to "fire six projectiles at a time." The weapon can be compared to a shotgun and it consisted of two metal pipes kept together using tape and making use of projectiles that were placed in small plastic shells used for firing from both barrels, Kyodo News reported.

In his statement to the police, Tetsuya Yamagami said that he had a grudge against the religious group which he believed had links with Shinzo Abe and added that his mother had ended up making a "huge donation" to the religious organization. He said that the attack was not politically motivated and he had initially intended to attack the executive of the group. 

Multiple homemade guns found in attacker's house 

Following the attack on Shinzo Abe, police found multiple homemade guns in the attacker's home that were similar to the one that was used to shoot the former Japanese PM. Multiple wooden boards with holes that were reportedly made during weapon testing were confiscated from the car of the shooter, Kyodo News reported citing sources. A former member of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, Tetsuya Yamagami has said that he had used the aluminium-covered tray found in the car for drying gunpowder. Yamagami was arrested at the scene of the attack and has been sent to prosecutors for further investigation. 

Shinzo Abe's death 

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe passed away at the age of 67 after he was shot dead in Nara while delivering a speech ahead of Sunday’s election on 8 July. The longest-serving Prime Minister of Japan was airlifted to a nearby hospital in Nara. However, he succumbed to injuries and doctors pronounced him dead after receiving massive blood transfusions, according to AP.

The security camera visuals from the station showed that the Yamagami who attacked the former Japanese PM arrived one and half hours before the shooting. According to police, Yamagami was responding to the questions and had accepted to attacking Abe. As per the news report, the colleagues of the man who shot Shinzo Abe have described him as a "totally ordinary person" and added that they were in disbelief by the incident linked to him. 

Inputs from AP

Image: AP