Photo/Illutration Tetsuya Yamagami, the suspected gunman in the killing of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at the Nara-Nishi Police Station in Nara on July 10 (Shiro Nishihata)

The suspected murderer of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe planned to detonate a bomb at a venue in central Japan where the leader of a religious group was visiting in 2019, investigative sources said.

Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, told investigators he was unable to enter the venue and gave up on the bombing plan, the sources said.

He still wanted to attack the South Korea-based leader of the Unification Church, but pandemic-related travel restrictions imposed in 2020 made another visit to Japan by the leader unlikely, the sources said.

Yamagami said that attacking the Unification Church leader was difficult to do, so he shot Abe instead, believing the politician was closely tied to the group, according to the sources.

Yamagami has told investigators that his mother’s donations to the Unification Church, formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, led to the family’s financial ruin.

Police believe Yamagami held a grudge against the church for several years and wanted to attack the leader.

He got a chance when the group’s “friendship organization” hosted an event in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, in October 2019. The Unification Church leader visited Japan from South Korea for the event.

“I went to the venue in Aichi Prefecture with a firebomb, hoping to attack (the leader),” Yamagami was quoted as telling investigators.

About 40,000 members attended the event, the group said.

Police said they are trying to determine all details of Yamagami’s plot to shoot Abe, including when he decided to target the former prime minister.

The religious group said Abe sent a video message to an event held by the friendship organization in September 2021.

The message video was available on the internet to view.

“I watched the message this spring,” Yamagami is quoted as telling investigators.

The Unification Church said Yamagami’s mother joined the group around 1998.

A male relative said the mother often traveled to South Korea to attend the group’s events.

He also said she donated more than 100 million yen ($720,000) to the Unification Church after her husband died. She also sold plots of land that she inherited.

In 2002, a court declared her bankrupt.

The relative said that when Yamagami was a child, he and his siblings were often left alone at home with no money to buy food or cover living expenses.

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