By Teruaki Ueno

TOKYO, April 21 (Reuters) - A gangster who shot and killed a fellow mobster was holed up in an apartment in a Tokyo suburb more than 12 hours after the incident began, police said on Saturday.

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

There were no hostages or injuries, but residents near the apartment, belonging to a gang member in Machida, on the west side of the capital, had been evacuated and children in nearby schools were escorted home by their parents.

Riot police wearing helmets and bulletproof vests and carrying shields were still stationed nearby more than 12 hours after the suspect locked himself in the apartment. Ambulances also waited in the area.

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 earlier had fatally shot a fellow gangster outside a convenience store in a nearby city.

A senior member of a crime syndicate spoke to the gunman on the phone and urged him to surrender, domestic media said.

"I would like to express my apologies by killing myself," the gunman was quoted as saying before he stopped answering his mobile phone.

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 has prompted lawmakers, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to call for even tighter supervision.

"The incidents involving guns followed the fatal shooting of the Nagasaki mayor and it is truly regrettable and grave," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told reporters.

The government is set to hold a task force meeting on gun control next week, and media reports have said 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 have been rare and on the decline, and 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.

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.

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