The confessed assassin of Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito has told police he made the decision to kill him two months beforehand, when Ito began preparing to run for a fourth term, investigative sources said.
"I decided to kill the mayor around early February because I could not stand seeing a city administration that does not suit me continuing for four more years," Tetsuya Shiroo, a 59-year-old gangster, was quoted by the sources as telling police.
The Nagasaki District Public Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday charged Shiroo with murder and with violating election and firearms laws in connection with the April 17 shooting.
Shiroo was an acting leader of the now disbanded Suishin-kai gangster group, is believed to have harbored a grudge against the city.
Shiroo shot him while he was campaigning for the April 22 election. He was arrested on the spot.
Since then, police have arrested two other men as accomplices.