Abe, Shot Japan Ex-Leader Dead

Japan’s former and longest serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe is dead having succumbed to gun wound shots directed at him during a political campaign event earlier on Friday, say local media.

He was the youngest at 52 to be elected prime minister and came from a family with long association with politics. His grandfather was prime minister, and his father was foreign minister.

Mr Abe was shot at twice while he was giving a speech in the southern city of Nara on Friday morning.

He immediately collapsed and was rushed to the nearest hospital. Pictures taken at the scene showed him bleeding.

GreenWhiteGreen GWG gathered that the doctors who treated him blamed loss of blood and suffered a cardiac arrest even before he got to the hospital.

Security officials at the scene tackled the gunman, and the 41-year-old suspect is now in police custody.

In an emotional press conference earlier, prime minister Fumio Kishida condemned the attack, saying: “It is barbaric and malicious and it cannot be tolerated.”

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency had earlier confirmed that Mr Abe had a bullet wound on the right of his neck, and also suffered subcutaneous bleeding under the left part of his chest.

It is unclear if both shots hit him, or if a bullet hit him on the neck and travelled elsewhere.

Mr Abe was said to be conscious and responsive in the minutes after the attack, but the 67-year-old’s situation later deteriorated and he had to receive a blood transfusion in hospital, according to reports.

Mr Abe was giving a stump speech for a political candidate in Nara at a road junction before he was shot and eventually pronounced dead in hospital.

Eyewitnesses said they saw a man carrying what they described as a large gun and firing twice at Mr Abe from behind.

Security officers detained the attacker, who made no attempt to run, and seized his weapon which was reportedly a handmade gun.

The suspect has been identified as Nara resident Tetsuya Yamagami. Local media reports say he is believed to be a former member of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, Japan’s equivalent of a navy.

Mr Abe’s speech came as part of a campaign for his former party, the Liberal Democratic Party, as upper house elections in Japan are due to take place later this week.

Ministers across the country were later told to return to Tokyo immediately, according to local reports.

On Japanese social media, the hashtag “We want democracy, not violence” was trending, with many social media users expressing their horror and disgust towards the incident.

Source: With additional reports from BBC

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