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Monday April 23, 2:01 PMREFILING: Gangster apologizes 'to nation,' not to family of murdered mayor(Kyodo) _ The gangster who allegedly shot former Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito to death last week made an apology on Monday, saying, "I caused trouble to the people of Nagasaki and the entire nation," his lawyer said.There was no apology to the late mayor's family, however, the lawyer said. As to motives, Tetsuya Shiroo, 59, said trouble with the city had triggered the murder, according to the lawyer, who met him earlier in the day for one hour at Nagasaki Police Station, where he has been detained. According to the lawyer, Shiroo claims he shot Ito because no compensation was given for a car damaged by a pothole at a road-works site on a city road. Shiroo also said a company connected to him could not secure a loan from the city, according to the lawyer. "I was financially struggling," he was quoted as saying. The lawyer said Shiroo told him that on April 17 he arrived at the scene of the shooting, near the Japan Railways Nagasaki Station, "on foot, alone." "I did it without consulting with anyone else," he said, according to the lawyer. It was reported that a suspicious car had been spotted near the shooting site around the time of the incident, raising the possibility that Shiroo had at least one accomplice. "The car has nothing to do" with the shooting, Shiroo said Monday, according to his lawyer. Shiroo had until recently turned down interviews with his lawyer. He had done so because he was "not feeling well," according to the lawyer. Ito, who was campaigning for a fourth four-year term as Nagasaki mayor, was shot twice in the back in front of his election campaign office, and died from loss of blood in a hospital early Wednesday. Shiroo, a member of a gang affiliated with Japan's biggest organized crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, was arrested on the spot on suspicion of attempted murder. |
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