Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has died after he was shot while giving a campaign speech in the city of Nara.
Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported that Abe, 67, was shot during a campaign event at 11:30 a.m. local time. He appeared to be bleeding from the chest after being shot from behind with a shotgun mid-speech. Quoting police sources, NHK reported that Abe was likely hit from behind by shotgun fire.
NHK reported Abe was flown to Nara Medical University Hospital in Kashihara City. Media reports say Abe was not breathing and his heart had stopped at the scene. At 2:50 p.m., in a press conference, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Abe was in a “critical condition.” “Currently doctors are doing everything they can,” Kishida told reporters at the prime minister’s residence. “At this moment, I am hoping and praying that former Prime Minister Abe will survive this.”
Just before 6 p.m. local time, NHK reported that Abe had died, with that news later confirmed by multiple media outlets, including the Associated Press and CNN.
Local media reports say witnesses heard two gunshots before they saw Abe fall to the ground, blood smearing his shirt. Security guards then rushed to surround the former prime minister. Kyodo News reported that Abe was shot on the left side of his back and his neck.
Police have arrested Tetsuya Yamagami, a 41-year-old man from Nara, for attempted murder. Video footage after the incident shows that Yamagami did not attempt to flee and was detained at the scene. Citing government sources, Kyodo News reported that Yamagami was an ex-member of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force. NHK reports the gun appears to be homemade, citing police.
After the shooting, Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, tweeted, “We are all saddened and shocked by the shooting of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. Abe-san has been an outstanding leader of Japan and unwavering ally of the U.S. The U.S. Government and American people are praying for the well-being of Abe-san, his family, & people of Japan.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is in Indonesia for a Group of 20 meetings, said that he was “deeply saddened and deeply concerned” by the news. Abe had been in the western city of Nara to make a campaign speech for the local Liberal Democratic Party candidate ahead of this Sunday’s upper house elections.
The incident has shocked Japan, a country with some of the strictest gun laws in the world and where shootings are rare. Similarly, political violence is exceedingly rare, with the last major shooting of a political figure coming in 2007, when Nagasaki Mayor Iccho Ito was gunned down by a member of the Yakuza organized crime group.
The last time a current or former Japanese prime minister was shot was 90 years ago when Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi was assassinated by Kantarō Suzuki in what is known as the May 15 Incident of 1932.
Abe served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister and resigned in 2020 over chronic health problems. Yoshihide Suga was elected as Abe’s successor in September 2020.
