Shinzo Abe Assassination: Japan police find bullet marks near location of assassination

Japanese police said Wednesday they found multiple bullet marks on a building near the site of the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week in western Japan, apparently from the first shot fired from a suspect's powerful homemade weapon, the Abe just missed.

Abe, the country's longest-serving prime minister, who remained influential after resigning two years ago due to ill health, was gunned down on Friday while delivering a campaign speech near a crowded Nara train station.

A bullet from a second shot fired behind Abe seconds after the first, fatally hit him as he turned, apparently in response to the initial blast sound.

The suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, was arrested on the spot on Friday. He can be detained for up to three weeks for police investigations before prosecutors decide whether to formally charge him with murder.

On Wednesday, police found what they believe to be bullet marks in the wall of a building about 90 meters (yards) from the scene of the assassination. Police said they believe bullets, or fragments of bullets from the first shot, hit the wall after narrowly missing Abe and piercing a polling vehicle parked nearby. The bullet marks on the wall and inside the vehicle match, police said, suggesting they were fired from the same gun.

Police seized the homemade gun the suspect used to kill Abe when he was arrested. The bonded 40-centimetre twin-barrel cannon, made of two iron tubes, was designed to fire multiple bullets per shot, police said. Police also seized several other similar weapons from the suspect's home.

Police and Japanese media have suggested that the suspected assassin decided to kill Abe after seeing reports of his ties to the Unification Church. The suspect was reportedly upset because his mother's massive donations to the church had bankrupted the family.

Abe's killing has shed light on his and his ruling party's ties to the Unification Church, known for its conservative and anti-Communist stance and mass weddings.

Tomihiro Tanaka, leader of the Japan branch of the South Korea-based church, confirmed Monday that Yamagami's mother was a member. Tanaka said Abe is not a member but may have spoken to groups associated with the church.

Police inspected a building related to the church in Nara this week after the suspect told investigators he had fired a homemade weapon the day before the assassination to find out how powerful it would be. They found several holes in the wall of an independent office next door, which the suspect may have assumed were part of the church, police said.

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