Abe shooting suspect: ‘I hold grudge against my mother’

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:05 JST, July 21, 2022

Tetsuya Yamagami, the suspect in the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has told police that he “holds a grudge” against his mother who joined the religious group widely known as the Unification Church, according to investigative sources.

Yamagami, 41, also expressed animosity towards the group, now officially called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, and the Nara prefectural police are conducting further investigations.

According to a relative of the suspect, Yamagami’s mother donated a total of ¥100 million to the religious group and was declared bankrupt in 2002. He gave up going to university for financial reasons. When he attempted suicide in 2005, he told the relative that he had done it to give insurance money to help his brother and sister who were in need.

According to the investigative sources, Yamagami said during questioning after his arrest, “My family fell apart as my mother joined the church,” and “I hate my mother and hold a grudge against her.”