Flowers and prayers were offered for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday, which marked the second anniversary of him being gunned down during a stump speech in the city of Nara.

Around 11:30 a.m., the time when the shooting occurred two years ago, lawmakers and others laid flowers on a ringed-off stand in front of Kintetsu Railway's Yamato-Saidaiji Station, near the shooting site. A portrait of Abe was placed on the stand.

Security was tight, after a man was caught near the site on the first anniversary of the fatal shooting while carrying a black cylinder similar to the gun said to have been used by Tetsuya Yamagami, 43, who has been indicted on murder and other charges over Abe's shooting.