Twenty-four years ago, Tetsuya Yamagami (42), who was a high school student at the time, was present at a seminar held by the former Unification Church in Nara Prefecture.



“I thought he was a smart young man, perhaps because he came to find out what his mother was into with his religion,” recalls a former local church official.



Yamagami, who is under investigation on suspicion of murder in the shooting incident, has a close relationship with the former Unification Church (Family Federation for World Peace and Unification), to which his mother made a large donation. It is believed that he aimed at former Prime Minister Abe who thought.



"I think it was an unreasonable donation."



A former church leader and still a believer who has been communicating with the suspect and his family for more than 20 years, talked about the background of the incident for more than 40 hours. rice field.


(NHK special coverage group)

Suspect's mother "believe in peace of the family and made donations"

When Tetsuya Yamagami was a high school student in Nara Prefecture, his mother is believed to have deepened his faith in the church.

Reporter in the foreground/A man in brown clothes A man



who served as an executive at the local former Unification Church, where his mother attended, is said to have started getting involved with the suspect and his family around this time.



---Why does the suspect's mother think she joined the church and increased her offerings?



(Former leader of a local church)


"Tetsuya's older brother has suffered from a serious illness since he was a child, and when he was one and a half years old, he underwent surgery. His mother said, 'It was hard to nurse him around the clock.'" After that, the treatment continued."I started donating because I thought that this child (older brother) would never have to undergo such an operation again."Tetsuya's father also died when he was young.His mother donated money. He believed that things would turn around and lead to peace for his children and his family." According to a



former executive, the mother continued to donate as if clinging to the church's doctrine, hoping for peace for the family. Says.



In addition to the death insurance for the suspect's father, he sold the land of the company office inherited from his grandfather and the land of his home at that time, and donated more than 100 million yen to the church in 2002. His mother filed for bankruptcy when the suspect was 21.

Suspect tries to commit suicide as family continues to suffer　

The suspect joined the Maritime Self-Defense Force instead of going to college, and in 2005, while his family was in dire straits, he attempted suicide.



At this time, his mother was participating in activities at a church facility in South Korea and did not rush to see her son.



It was this former executive who rushed to the hospital instead.



(Former leader of a local church)


"At the hospital, Tetsuya said, 'I wanted to leave money for my brother who was in need with my life insurance money.' I would like to talk about my future work. After that, I recommended that he obtain various qualifications.”



--- What kind of relationship do you feel the suspect had with his mother?



(Former leader of a local church)


“My mother was interested in my brother who was sick. If the total number is 10, my brother is 8 and Tetsuya is 1. I think Tetsuya was out of my mother’s mind. Tetsuya may have always been lonely.”



After the suicide attempt, the suspect sent an email saying,


“I just don’t like being with people. I can't be with anyone because I don't have one. What is the cause of that loneliness?"

Former church executive ``I thought it was an unreasonable donation''

The former executive was unable to see the family's plight and negotiated with the church, and in 2009, he agreed to refund a part of the donation amount to his mother, totaling 50 million yen.



(Former leader of a local church)


"At the time, my mother said, 'I don't regret the donation,' but when I saw the poor life of the Yamanoue family, I thought it was an unreasonable donation. The church said that. I decided that I shouldn't have received the money."



However, life difficulties continued, and in 2015, the suspect's older brother committed suicide after despairing that he could not receive the treatment he wanted. .



The former executive man had moved to South Korea and had less interaction with the suspect.



In May of last year, about a year before the incident, he received an email from the suspect expressing his resentment toward the former Unification Church, but he only noticed it after the incident.



Immediately after the email, there was a post on SNS that the suspect seems to have addressed to the former executive.



(Posts believed to be from Yamagami)


“I thought I would contact you this time because I thought you probably hated the Unification Church. If you feel that you cannot forgive the Unification Church, please contact me.”



(former local church leader)


“I didn’t write this directly, but if you have a grudge against the Unification Church, let’s work together to settle the grudge.” At least once a year, I ask, "How are you doing?" If I had sent an email to

Ex-Church Leader: 'Sorry is the Best'

--- As someone who knows the suspect and his family, why do you think this incident happened?



(Former leader of a local church)


“Tetsuya Yamagami truly believed that the Unification Church was a social evil, and spent his life worrying about it. At some point, he must have made up his mind and became convinced. I think one of the factors was the lack of communication between Tetsuya and his mother.”



--- What do you think about the responsibility of the church?



(Former leader of a local church)


“Even as someone who has continued to communicate with me, I feel most sorry about the incident. This incident occurred in relation to the church, whose doctrine is supposed to be to make families happy.In the future, the church needs to reform itself so that it will not be allowed to make such unreasonable donations.



Yamagami, who is under investigation on suspicion of murder, is undergoing a psychiatric evaluation to check his criminal responsibility capacity until the end of November, and the police are investigating the mother's donations

.

We are investigating further and trying to find out what happened.