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By Teruaki Ueno

TOKYO, April 21 (Reuters) - Police stormed an apartment in a Tokyo suburb on Saturday and took into custody a gangster who had shot himself in the head after apparently fatally shooting a fellow mobster and then holing up for some 15 hours.

The incident came just days after the fatal shooting of the mayor of Nagasaki City, which stunned the nation and prompted calls for greater gun controls.

The gangster was found bleeding from his head with a gun lying on the floor when several armed police officers fired tear-gas and stormed the apartment, police said.

"He shot himself in the head. He is unconscious and he is in a critical condition," a police official near the scene of the incident said.

No hostages were taken in the incident that ended after 15 hours, during which police in riot gear stationed themselves outside the apartment while a senior gang member urged his colleague to surrender.

Police officials said the 36-year-old gangster had fired nine shots from the apartment, with one hitting a police vehicle, but no one had been injured.

They said they believed the suspect had earlier fatally shot a fellow gangster outside a convenience store in a nearby city.

Media reports said police were searching the office of the gang, with investigations centred on whether there was fighting within the group.

YAKUZA GANGSTERS

Japan has strict gun control laws and legal firearms are mostly in the hands of hunters and police.

Illegal firearms are mostly in the hands of "yakuza" gangsters, whose mainstays include prostitution, drugs, extortion and even finance.

The shooting of Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito by a gangster on Tuesday prompted lawmakers, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to call for even tighter supervision.

The government is set to hold a task force meeting on gun control next week, and media reports say it aimed to submit a bill to parliament to revise gun control legislation by the end of the current session on June 23.

Gun-related crimes are rare and on the decline. The number of shootings fell to a record-low 53 last year, with most involving members of organised crime. Of those, 36 were thought to have involved gangsters. Only two resulted in deaths.

Media called for tighter oversight of yakuza.

"The police must fundamentally revamp how they crack down on organised crime," Asashi Shimbun daily said in an editorial. "If laws are insufficient to corner crooks, then statutes should be changed to make the job easier."

Former senior police official Yutaka Takehana said the recent shootings reflected a decline in the strength of the gangs.

"Their organisations have been weakening and suffering therefore they have tended to rely on firearms," he told public broadcaster NHK, adding that many of the gangs were in financial trouble.

(Additional reporting by George Nishiyama and Chisa Fujioka and Linda Sieg)

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