NARA – The mother of the man arrested over the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe donated about ¥100 million ($720,000) to the Unification Church, the man's uncle said Friday.
The man, Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, has told investigators he believes Abe was linked to the church and he resents it because his family's finances were ruined due to the donations made by his mother.
The donations included a payout of about ¥60 million in connection with the death of Yamagami's father, the uncle told reporters in Osaka Prefecture. Proceeds from the sale of the family's land and house were also donated by the mother to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church.
She continued donating smaller amounts even after she became bankrupt in 2002, said the 77-year-old uncle, the older brother of Yamagami's father.
"I believe she was a very important follower of the church. She was under mind control," he said.
Yamagami's mother joined the church around 1991 following his father's suicide in 1984, according to the uncle.
The church has claimed that it returned ¥50 million to her, while adding there were no records of the amounts of the donations she made to the organization.
The uncle criticized the church's response and accused it of attempting to evade responsibility.
Yamagami's family was thrown into poverty because of the church, the uncle said, adding the suspect had to give up on going to college due to a lack of money.Yamagami attempted suicide in 2005 when he was a Maritime Self-Defense Force member as he wanted his brother and sister to benefit from a life insurance payment, according to the uncle.
He said Yamagami's mother is staying at his home and resting due to extreme fatigue, adding he is not sure if she is still in touch with the church and she is cooperating with the investigation.
Some media have quoted investigative sources saying that during questioning the mother apologized for what her son had done, but did not say anything to criticize the religious organization.
Investigative sources revealed Thursday that Yamagami has said that he had been planning an attack for about 20 years.
Yamagami said that he "wanted to deal a blow to the religious organization" against which he had a grudge.
Yamagami has said he experimented with making guns and bullets for over a year. Nara Prefectural Police are working to corroborate his statements and are investigating the circumstances leading up to the July 8 shooting during the former prime minister's stump speech in the city of Nara.
Yamagami had a grudge against the religious group since around the time when his mother went bankrupt and is believed to have initially sought to target senior members of the organization, according to investigative sources.
The suspect said that he had visited a Unification Church facility with a knife after the bankruptcy, and that three years ago he planned to attack the leader of the church with a firebomb while she was visiting Japan from South Korea.
He told investigators that he thought the church had ties with the late former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, Abe's grandfather.
He was apparently motivated to kill Abe after watching a video message sent by Abe to an affiliate of the Unification Church.
"Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Unification Church leaders were not coming to Japan, and I was unable to travel to South Korea," Yamagami said of the reason behind changing his target to Abe from officials of the group.
He told police that he began making a gun around spring last year after researching how to make firearms, bullets and gunpowder online, and that he initially considered making a bomb.
Police seized several types of what appear to be homemade guns, and believe that he tested the guns and several types of projectile as well.
Yamagami said that at least one gun was ready for use as of spring this year.
Nara police will investigate whether a lethal gun can be made as Yamagami explained in his confession and conduct hearings with his mother to fully understand his motive.
"He was extremely smart just like his father," the uncle said of Yamagami. "He was also hardworking and I only have good memories of him."
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