Mourners pay tribute to ex-Japanese PM Shinzo Abe at party headquarters

People laid flowers and paid respects to former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe outside his political party's headquarters in Tokyo on Monday.

Abe was assassinated on Friday after he was shot during a campaign speech in the western city of Nara and died of massive blood loss.

People brought flowers and waited in a line outside the Liberal Democratic Party's main offices to pay tribute to Japan's longest serving prime minister.

Abe's body was transported to Zojoji Temple in Tokyo, where a wake would be held later on Monday.

The shooting sent shudders through low-crime, orderly Japan.

On Sunday, the suspect accused of his murder was transferred to a local prosecutors’ office for further investigation, and a top regional police official acknowledged possible security lapses allowed the gunman to get close to Abe.

The suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, told investigators he acted because of Abe’s rumored connection to an organization that he resented, police said. Some Japanese media identified the group as the Unification Church.

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