41-year-old killer of Shinzo Abe arrested, says he was displeased with him  

The killer said he attacked the former Japanese premier because he was dissatisfied with him.

Yamagami has been detained at Nara Nishi Police Station, near the site of gunshots in Nara region, western Japan on Friday.

According to reports, Yamagami is believed to be a resident of Nara and arrested on suspicion of attempted murder for shooting at Abe.

His gun was also confiscated by the police which was later revealed to be locally made. He will be arraigned on the suspicion of an attempted murder.

The suspect shot two times and media reports said that Abe was hit in the chest. He was standing behind the politician – about 10 feet away – when he shot him.

According to reports the shooter did not run away. Reportedly, he targeted Shinzo Abe with the intention of killing him.

An eyewitness said the shooter did not attempt to flee from the scene. Instead, he put this gun on the ground and stayed put as security personnel apprehended him.

His successor, Fumio Kishida called the shooting an unforgivable act.

Footage and accounts broadcast by Japanese media showed Abe’s speech interrupted by two loud bangs – possibly from a shotgun – and smoke, with Abe stumbling to the ground after the second shot. Abe had been shot on the left side of his chest and apparently also in the neck.

Moments later, members of Abe’s security detail wrestled a man to the ground some metres behind the former prime minister. The suspect was wearing a grey shirt, light brown trousers and grey trainers. His face was partly obscured by a surgical mask. He reportedly did not attempt to flee before being detained at the scene.

Police said that the weapon thought to have been used in the attack was homemade, according to local media reports. A photograph showed two cylindrical metal parts that appeared to have been heavily bound with black tape lying on the road near the scene.

The attack has sent shockwaves through Japan. The country has close to “zero-tolerance” of gun ownership – an approach that experts say contributes to its extremely low rate of gun crime. There were six reported gun deaths in 2014, according to the National Police Agency, and the number rarely exceeds 10, in a country of 126 million people.

Abe, a conservative lawmaker who quit abruptly as premier in 2007 after one year in the post, swept back for a rare second stint in 2012 pledging to revive a stagnant economy, loosen the limits of a post-world war two pacifist constitution and restore conservative values.

He was instrumental in winning the 2020 Olympics for Tokyo, cherishing a wish to preside over the Games and even appeared as Nintendo video game character Mario during the Olympic handover at Rio 2016.

Abe is known for his “Abenomics” policy to lift the world’s third-biggest economy out of deflation and for supporting a more prominent role for Japan’s military to counter growing threats from North Korea and a more assertive China. While in office he failed to realise his main political ambition – to revise Japan’s “pacifist” constitution, which prohibits the country from using force to resolve international disputes. In recent weeks he has voiced support for significant rises in Japan’s defence budget, citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as proof that Japan should stay vigilant in case of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

Abe became Japan’s longest-serving premier in November 2019, but by the summer of 2020, public support had been eroded by his handling of the Covid-19 outbreak as well as a series of scandals, including the arrest of his former justice minister. Citing the return of a chronic bowel complaint that had contributed to the premature end to his first term in office, he resigned without presiding over the Games, which were postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic.