Yeah I've wondered about that one. The assassin in an interview said he had no political disagreements with Abe, but I don't know if that's true or just excessive Japanese politeness even after shooting a guy.

[–] BelieveRevolt@hexbear.net 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The shooter said it was because of Abe's ties to the Unification Church, which had bankrupted his mom. His initial target wasn't Abe, but the president of the church. The motive does seem plausible to me.

[–] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It would be really funny if he was looking for the leader of the church, but didn't find him, and that's when he found Abe in the street and decided to shoot him, so he wouldn't have wasted his time making a gun and ammo for it.

[–] CascadeOfLight@hexbear.net 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't know if you know the story, but the guy was walking home, happened to walk past Abe (who had randomly decided to hold an unscheduled speech in the middle of the street, so had very little security), went home and got the the-doohickey he'd already made, came back and the rest is history

[–] WoofWoof91@hexbear.net 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

i didn't know about the coincidental nature of it!
i thought doohickey guy was stalking him or something and found his moment

the mental picture of him just walking back from the shop, spotting abe and thinking "no fucking way", rushing home, then blasting the guy is incredible

[–] CascadeOfLight@hexbear.net 8 points 1 year ago

It's one of the most incredible assassinations in history, and it couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy

[–] BelieveRevolt@hexbear.net 3 points 1 year ago

I don’t think that’s true at all. The guy did stalk Abe, and I haven’t seen anything that says he coincidentally walked past Abe while he was giving an impromptu speech.

[–] Mokey@hexbear.net 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Or saw that showing affiliation would get his side get murked

[–] nightshade@hexbear.net 1 points 1 year ago

His social media presence apparently consisted of misogynistic and xenophobic comments, as well as complaints about liberals, so he was pretty much a chud.

(Article link, admittedly only read through Google Translate)