Japanese police file new charges on ex-Prime Minister Abe's murder suspect

Japanese police on Monday referred Tetsuya Yamagami, who has been indicted for the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to prosecutors for allegedly making a gun and damaging a building by test-firing it.

Yamagami, 42, is believed to have test-fired a weapon at a facility linked to the religious group Unification Church in the western city of Nara on July 7 last year, a day before the fatal shooting, in addition to making handguns and gunpowder without authorization, according to the Nara prefectural police.

The latest charges against the 42-year-old are expected to mark an end to police investigations into the deadly shooting of Abe.

Yamagami, an ex-Maritime Self-Defense Force worker, was arrested on the spot on July 8 last year after allegedly shooting Abe twice at close range with a handmade gun while Abe, 67, was delivering a stump speech in the western city of Nara ahead of an upper house election.

In January, after months of psychiatric evaluations by prosecutors, Yamagami was indicted for murder and violating the firearms control law.