Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe assassinated in Nara shooting

Abe, 67, was the former Liberal Democratic Party leader and Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, holding office from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020, before resigning due to health reasons. Since stepping down, he remained in the public eye and regularly appeared in the media to discuss current affairs.

At the time of the shooting, Abe was delivering a speech in support of LDP candidates in Nara city ahead of the upcoming Upper House elections scheduled for Sunday.

Suspect apparently used homemade weapon

Video aired by public broadcaster NHK captured the moments before the shooting, showing Abe speaking to a small crowd in front of Yamatosaidaiji railway station. In subsequent videos, two shots can be heard and smoke can be seen in the air.

Photos show people gathered around the former leader as he lay in the street, with what appeared to be blood stains on his white shirt.

An official from the Nara City Fire Department told CNN earlier Friday Abe was in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest, a term used to describe the sudden loss of heart function and breathing.

He was rushed to hospital via helicopter, where medics began frantic efforts to keep him alive.

But Abe’s heart had stopped beating by the time he reached the hospital, doctors said.

The former leader had two gunshot wounds but doctors could not determine the trajectory of the bullets.

During surgery, doctors struggled to stem the bleeding. “We took resuscitative measures, but (Abe) unfortunately died,” Hidenori Fukushima, a professor at Nara Medical University, told reporters.

Shortly before 6 a.m. local time, a car believed to be carrying his body left the hospital, NHK reported.

Yamagami, who appeared to have used a homemade weapon in the attack, was arrested and charged with attempted murder, according to NHK.

He was held for questioning at Nara Nishi police station.

During a news conference Friday, Nara Nishi police said the 41-year-old suspect, who is unemployed, holds hatred toward a certain group to which he thought Abe was related.

Police raided the suspect’s apartment at 5:17 p.m. local time, where they confiscated several handmade pistol-like items, police said.

Yamagami is being investigated as a suspect in a murder case, to which 90 investigators have been assigned, the police added.

Japan’s National Police Agency will review security arrangements for Abe, NHK reported Saturday.

NHK reported the police agency said the Nara prefectural police drew up a security plan for the former prime minister while in the city. The prefecture’s police officers and security personnel from the Tokyo Metropolitan police had remained on the lookout and had reportedly watched Abe from all sides during his speech, NHK reported.

Several dozen officers, including the Nara prefecture’s plain-clothed police officers and one specially assigned personnel from the Tokyo police force, were on duty, NHK reported.

World leaders horrified by assassination

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida paid his “deepest condolences” to former leader Abe, saying he “was a personal friend, with whom (he) spent a lot of time.”

Kishida said he had a “great respect for the legacy (Abe) left behind” and would continue election campaigning on Saturday, adding a free and fair election must be defended at all costs.

“While there are many details that we do not yet know, we know that violent attacks are never acceptable and that gun violence always leaves a deep scar on the communities that are affected by it. The United States stands with Japan in this moment of grief,” the US president said in a statement.

Later on Friday, Biden ordered American flags at the White House and on other federal grounds be flown at half-staff until Sunday in recognition of Abe’s death.