Japan’s ex-PM Abe dead after being shot at campaign event

Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is dead after being shot at a campaign event in the Nara region, local media report.

"Shinzo Abe was transported to (the hospital) at 12:20 pm. He was in a state of cardiac arrest upon arrival. Resuscitation was administered. However, unfortunately he died at 5:03 pm," said Hidetada Fukushima, professor of emergency medicine at Nara Medical University hospital.

Abe, 67, had been delivering a stump speech near a train station in the western city of Nara when he was shot by an assailant.

Japanese media said a man opened fire on Abe from behind with an apparently homemade gun as he spoke to a crowd. 

NHK quoted the suspect, identified as Tetsuya Yamagami, as telling police he was dissatisfied with Abe and wanted to kill him.

Abe was making a campaign speech outside a train station when two shots rang out at about 11:30 a.m. (0230 GMT). Security officials were then seen tackling a man in a grey T-shirt and beige trousers.

Amateur footage showed people rushing towards him as plumes of smoke filled the air behind him. It, however, did not capture the exact moment he was hit.

National broadcaster NHK said a man in his 40s had been arrested for attempted murder and a gun had been confiscated from him. Police in protective gear raided his home later.

NHK footage showed several police officers wearing helmets and body armor and carrying protective shields filing into a building identified by the broadcaster as the home of a man arrested for attempted murder after the attack.

The former leader was delivering a stump speech at an event ahead of Sunday's upper house elections, NHK and the Kyodo news agency said. 

"He was giving a speech and a man came from behind," a young woman at the scene told NHK. 

"The first shot sounded like a toy. He didn't fall and there was a large bang. The second shot was more visible, you could see the spark and smoke," she added. 

"After the second shot, people surrounded him and gave him cardiac massage." 

Sources close to Abe told NHK that Abe “was shot in the chest,” and a male suspect had been taken into custody. 

It was the first assassination of a sitting or former Japanese premier since the days of prewar militarism in the 1930s.

Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, held office in 2006 for one year and again from 2012 to 2020, when he was forced to step down due to the debilitating bowel condition ulcerative colitis.

His first term was turbulent, plagued by scandals and discord, and capped by an abrupt resignation.

He was a hawkish conservative who pushed for the revision of Japan's pacifist constitution to recognize the country's military and had stayed a prominent political figure even after stepping down.

Police said the suspected shooter was a resident of Nara. Media said he had served in Japan's military for three years until 2005. Defense Minister Kishi declined to comment on that.

Senior Japanese politicians are accompanied by armed security agents but often get close to the public, especially during political campaigns when they make roadside speeches and shake hands with passersby. 

In 2007, the mayor of Nagasaki was shot and killed by a yakuza gangster. The head of the Japan Socialist Party was assassinated during a speech in 1960 by a right-wing youth with a samurai short sword. A few other prominent postwar politicians were attacked but not injured.

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