Japan’s TOKYO — Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot during a campaign speech, according to NHK television. Minutes after beginning his speech on Friday in Nara, western Japan, Abe was shot from behind. He was transported by helicopter to a medical facility for immediate care, but he was not breathing and his heart had stopped. At the hospital, he was later declared dead.
Before resigning in 2020 due to health concerns, 67-year-old Abe was Japan’s head of state for the longest period of time.
The alleged gunman was apprehended by police at the scene of the attack, which shocked residents of one of the safest nations in the world.
A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE IS HERE. The earlier report from AP is below.
Japan’s NARA (AP) – Shinzo Abe, a divisive arch-conservative and one of his country’s most powerful and influential figures, was shot and seriously injured on Friday while giving a speech in support of his campaign. He was taken to a hospital by helicopter, but doctors found that he was not breathing and that his heart had stopped.
In Japan, one of the safest countries in the world with some of the strictest gun laws anywhere, police detained the alleged shooter at the scene of an attack that shocked many.
Abe was in “grave condition,” according to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who expressed hope that he would survive. After the shooting, which he referred to as “dastardly and barbaric,” Kishida and his Cabinet ministers hurriedly arrived in Tokyo from political events held across the nation.
At his office, Kishida told reporters, “I’m praying from the bottom of my heart for former Prime Minister Abe’s survival.
Abe, 67, was in cardio and pulmonary arrest as he was being airlifted to the hospital, according to local fire department official Makoto Morimoto. Abe served as Japan’s leader for the longest period of time before stepping down in 2020.
A dramatic video of Abe speaking in front of a train station in the western city of Nara was broadcast on public television by NHK. When two gunshots are heard, he is standing there raising his fist while wearing a navy blue suit. The next scene in the video shows Abe unconscious on the sidewalk as security personnel rush to help. His shirt is covered in blood, and he holds his chest.
Security personnel then pounce on top of a man in a gray shirt who is lying face down on the pavement. On the ground is what appears to be a homemade gun with two barrels.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, was detained by Nara Prefectural Police on suspicion of trying to kill someone. The suspect reportedly spent three years in the Maritime Self-Defense Force in the 2000s, according to NHK. Other footage from the scene showed Abe being surrounded by campaign workers. The former leader still has a significant amount of sway within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and is in charge of its biggest faction, Seiwakai. Sunday is election day for the lower house of Japan’s parliament, which has less authority.
As he struggled to maintain composure, Kishida said, “I use the harshest words to condemn (the act). Although he added that Abe had the highest level of protection, he stated that the government planned to review the security situation.
Leaders of the opposition prayed for Abe’s recovery and denounced the attack as a threat to Japan’s democracy. In Tokyo, people paused in the middle of the street to pick up extra copies of the newspaper or watch the shooting on television.
Abe claimed he had a relapse of the ulcerative colitis he had had since he was a teenager when he announced his resignation as prime minister.
It was “gut wrenching,” he told reporters at the time, to abandon so many of his objectives. He discussed his failure to resolve issues involving Japanese who had been kidnapped by North Korea years earlier, a territorial dispute with Russia, and a change to Japan’s constitution that forbade war.
He was very divisive because of that last objective.
His ultra-nationalism infuriated China and Korea, and his efforts to establish what he perceived as a more conventional defense posture infuriated many Japanese. Due to a lack of public support, Abe was unable to officially rewrite the pacifist constitution, which was the country’s founding document.
His legacy, according to loyalists, was to strengthen ties between the United States and Japan in order to increase Japan’s capacity for defense. But Abe alienated people by pushing through parliament his defense priorities as well as other controversial issues in spite of strong public opposition.
Abe is a political dynamo who was raised to carry on his grandfather Nobusuke Kishi’s legacy as prime minister. His political rhetoric frequently centered on transforming Japan into a “normal” and “beautiful” country with a more powerful military and a larger role in world affairs.
Foreign officials from many countries expressed shock at the shooting.
China is “following the development of the situation and hopes that former Prime Minister Abe will be out of danger and recover quickly,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Zhao Lijian responded to a question.
While attending a meeting of the Group of 20 foreign ministers in Bali, Indonesia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “Our thoughts and prayers are with him, with his family, and with the people of Japan.”
Abe praised himself for leading efforts to fortify the Japan-US security partnership and for arranging the first trip to Hiroshima by a sitting US president. He also contributed to Tokyo winning the right to host the 2020 Olympics by falsely claiming that the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster was “under control.”
At 52 years old, Abe was elected as Japan’s youngest prime minister in 2006. However, his overly nationalistic first term came to an abrupt end a year later, also due to his health.
After a scandal-filled first term as prime minister, Abe’s tenure came to an end, marking the start of six years of annual leadership changes. This period is remembered as one of “revolving door” politics, lacking in stability and long-term policies.
Abe promised to revive the country and lift its economy out of its deflationary slump when he took office again in 2012 using his “Abenomics” formula, which combines fiscal stimulus, monetary easing, and structural reforms.
He strengthened Japan’s defense role and capability as well as its security alliance with the United States by winning six national elections and establishing a firmhold on power. Additionally, he increased the focus on patriotism in the classroom and improved Japan’s standing abroad.
