Shinzo Abe's killer wielded homemade gun, grudge over mother's bankruptcy

Tetsuya Yamagami jury-rigged the weapon from parts bought online, spending months plotting the attack, even attending other Abe campaign events, including one a day earlier some 200 km away, media said

Tetsuya Yamagami, bottom, is detained near the site of gunshots in Nara Prefecture on Friday, July 8. Picture: Katsuhiko Hirano/The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP

The man who killed Shinzo Abe believed the former Japanese leader was linked to a religious group he blamed for his mother's financial ruin and spent months planning the attack with a homemade gun, police told local media on Saturday.

Tetsuya Yamagami, an unemployed 41-year-old, identified as the suspect on suspicion of murder on Friday after a man was seen in videos repeatedly shown on Japanese television calmly approaching Japan's longest-serving prime minister from behind and firing.