Itaru Nakamura said Thursday he intended to step down as head of the national police service to give the organization a “fresh start,” weeks after Abe was shot dead while delivering a campaign speech. “We decided to shake up our staff and restart our security duties, and that’s why I submitted my resignation today,” Nakamura told reporters at a news conference explaining the security lapses on the day of the shooting. “In the process of verifying our new security plan, we realized that our security system needs a fresh start … we need a new system to overhaul security measures and ensure that this never happens again.” He did not say when his resignation would take effect. Media reports said Tomoaki Onizuka, the police chief in Nara, the western prefecture where Abe was killed, had also said he would resign. Abe’s killing, which occurred late in the morning outside a suburban train station, immediately raised questions about how the suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, was able to shoot his target from behind at close range. Security experts said the bodyguards could have saved Abe by shielding him or pulling him out of the line of fire during the two-and-a-half-second gap between the first shot, which missed its target, and the second, fatal shot. The prime minister, Fumio Kishida, acknowledged that security arrangements were flawed, while police officials admitted there were “problems” with security. “We failed to fulfill our responsibility to protect officials,” Nakamura said shortly after the July 8 shooting, before calling for an investigation and review of security for politicians and other VIPs. “We take it very seriously. As the [police agency] Commissioner General, who is responsible for the direction and supervision of the prefectural police, my responsibility is really serious.” Abe’s death, just two days before national elections, prompted other candidates to cancel speeches or tighten security. Japanese media reported that none of the three local police assigned to monitor the area behind Abe had noticed Yamagami approaching the politician shortly before he opened fire with an improvised weapon. Instead, according to the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, they were noticing the growing number of people stopping by to listen to Abe’s speech. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Yamagami, who is reportedly undergoing a psychiatric evaluation, came within about seven meters of Abe before firing the first shot, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported, citing investigative sources, before firing the second from about five meters away. Yamagami told investigators he was driven to kill Abe out of hatred for the Unification church, saying his mother had ruined their family financially after making huge donations to the organization. Abe last year delivered a video message to a church-linked group that his grandfather, postwar prime minister Nobusuke Kishi, helped establish a presence in Japan to counter the growing influence of communism and the trade union movement.
