Sources: Suspect Decided To Attack In Nara After Failed Attempt A Day Earlier
Sources say the suspect in the fatal shooting of former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo told investigators he decided to attack Abe in Nara City, western Japan, after abandoning plans to target him at a different location a day earlier.
Abe was shot last Friday as he was making a campaign speech in Nara. Police arrested 41-year-old Yamagami Tetsuya, a resident of the city, at the scene.
Investigators had earlier quoted Yamagami as saying he had been seeking an opportunity to get close to Abe, and that he had been to a campaign site where Abe spoke in Okayama City the day before the shooting.
Sources say the suspect later told investigators that he gave up on that attempt because he couldn't get close enough.
The investigators also quote him as saying he learned about Abe's visit to Nara the next day via the internet as he was making his way back from Okayama, and resolved to carry out the attack there.