Police have found several possible explosives at the residence of Tetsuya Yamagami, who is the suspect in former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s shooting, as per public broadcaster NHK. The Liberal Democratic Party leader reportedly died in the hospital after being shot twice in rally in the city of Nara around 11.30 AM local time on Friday. 

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Yamagami, who has been reported as a navy veteran and a resident of Nara, was arrested immediately after the shooting for attempted murder. He allegedly approached Abe from behind while the former PM was rallying for a local candidate. Two gunshots were heard. A video aired by NHK shows Abe collapsed on the street, with security guards running toward him. He holds his chest, his shirt smeared with blood.

Ministry of Defense officials, as per the NHK report, confirmed that the suspect had been in the Maritime Self-Defense Force for three years from 2002 to 2005. He used a home-made shotgun to assasinate Abe. 

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Yamagami, as per reports, confessed: “I was dissatisfied with former Prime Minister Abe and aimed to kill him. It is not a grudge against the former Prime Minister’s political beliefs.”

The police, as per NHK, searched the suspect’s home and found several possible explosives. Yamagami said that he had “manufactured multiple pistols and explosives so far.”

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Nara Medical University emergency department chief Hidetada Fukushima said Abe suffered major damage to his heart in addition to two neck wounds that damaged an artery, causing extensive bleeding. He was in a state of cardio and pulmonary arrest when he arrived at the hospital and never regained his vital signs, Fukushima said.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Cabinet ministers hastily returned to Tokyo from campaign events around the country after the shooting, which he called “dastardly and barbaric.”