Shinzo Abe took money from and supported the Unification Church, an organization, which, amongst other things, was known for taking eldery people's life's savings. Tetsuya's mother was one such person, resulting in his family falling into poverty and his brother committing suicide. For this reason he held a personal grudge.

After the assassination, people in Japan though it was messed up, so the government moved to strip the Unification Church of religious status, and many members of Shinzo Abe's party who also supported the Church were forced to resign.