NARA: The man accused of shooting former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo to death in the western Japan city of Nara has told police that he had test-fired guns before the attack, investigative sources said Sunday.

Several 1-meter square wooden boards were found from a minivehicle owned in the name of the suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, according to sources at the police department of Nara Prefecture. The car was confiscated Saturday.

There are several holes in each of the wooden boards. Yamagami told the police that he used the boards for test-firing guns, according to the sources.

The police are working to confirm whether the holes were caused by bullets while investigating when and where Yamagami test-fired guns.

Some trays wrapped with aluminum foil were also found from the car. They are similar in size, measuring about 25 centimeters in length, 35 centimeters in width and 5 centimeters in height, the sources said.

Yamagami, a resident of the city of Nara, the capital of the prefecture, was quoted as saying that he used the trays to dry gunpowder. The Nara prefectural police will look into details about how he used them.

The suspect shot Abe twice from behind around 11:30 a.m. Friday (2:30 a.m. GMT) while the former prime minister, a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was giving a campaign speech in front of Kintetsu Railway Co.’s Yamato-Saidaiji Station for an LDP candidate in Sunday’s election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament.

Yamagami was arrested at the site of the shooting. Abe was transported to a hospital, but died shortly after 5 p.m. Friday due to loss of blood.

In the attack, Yamagami used a homemade gun. The weapon was made up of two cylinder-shaped objects fixed together using a wooden plank and tape. The cylinder-like objects are believed to be the barrel of the gun.

With bullet marks found on the signboard of an election campaign car about 20 meters away from the place where Abe was shot, the police suspect that the gun was designed to fire multiple rounds in a single shot.

The police confiscated from Yamagami’s home some apparent guns with characteristics similar to those of the weapon used in the shooting of Abe.

There is a possibility that Yamagami repeatedly test-fired the guns to choose a weapon he would use to attack the former prime minister, the sources said.

JIJI Press