Former Japanese prime minister, dies after being shot during election campaign

TOKYO, Japan

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has died after being shot during a campaign speech Friday in western Japan, according to NHK public television.

Abe, 67, was shot from behind minutes after he started his speech in Nara. He was airlifted to a hospital for emergency treatment but was not breathing and his heart had stopped. 

He was pronounced dead later at the hospital, NHK said.

Abe was Japan’s longest-serving leader before stepping down in 2020.

NHK aired a dramatic video of Abe giving a speech outside a train station in the western city of Nara. He is standing, dressed in a navy blue suit, raising his fist, when two gunshots are heard. The video then shows Abe collapsed on the street, with security guards running toward him. He holds his chest, his shirt smeared with blood.

In the next moment, security guards leap on top of a man in gray shirt who lies face down on the pavement. A double-barreled device that appeared to be a handmade gun is seen on the ground.

The assassination shocked many in Japan and around the world. Japan is known as one of the world’s safest nations and has some of the world’s strictest gun control laws.

Nara prefectural police confirmed the arrest of 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami on suspicion of attempted murder. NHK reported that the suspect served in the Maritime Self-Defense Force for three years in the 2000s.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Cabinet ministers hastily returned to Tokyo from campaign events around the country after the shooting, which he called “dastardly and barbaric.

"I use the harshest words to condemn (the act),” Kishida said as he struggled to control his emotions. He said the government planned to review the security situation, but added that Abe had the highest protection.

Opposition leaders condemned the attack as a challenge to Japan’s democracy.

Abe first became premier in 2006, lasting just a year before returning for a rare second stint in 2012 pledging to revive a stagnant economy, loosen the limits of a post-World War Two pacifist constitution and restore traditional values.

He was instrumental in winning the 2020 Olympics for Tokyo, cherishing a wish to preside over the Games and even appeared as Nintendo video game character Mario during the Olympic handover at Rio, the 2016 host.

Abe became Japan’s longest-serving premier in November 2019, but by summer 2020, support had been eroded by his handling of the COVID-19 outbreak as well as a series of scandals including the arrest of his former justice minister.

He resigned in September of that year without achieving his long-held goal of revising the constitution or presiding over the Games, which had been postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic.

But he remained a dominant presence over the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), controlling one of its major factions. He was campaigning for an Upper House election two days later when he was assassinated.