Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot at while campaigning in Nara, western Japan on Friday. The suspect has been arrested.
Japan Times reported that 67-year-old Abe was delivering an election campaign speech on a street in Nara around 11:30 am when he was attacked from behind by an unidentified man with a shotgun. He was struck by a bullet in the chest.
Abe has been taken to hospital bleeding after collapsing. He is reportedly showing no vital signs.
A sound like a gunshot was heard at the time Abe collapsed. A male person of interest was detained at the scene. An NHK reporter on the scene said they could hear two consecutive bangs during Abe’s speech.
The suspect, a 41-year-old man dressed in a grey T-shirt, was overpowered by security personnel at the scene and taken into custody. Police also retrieved a gun from where Abe was shot at.
The suspect was later identified as Tetsuya Yamagami, a resident of Nara.
Briefing the media, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Shinzo Abe’s condition was “unknown” but all developments are being tracked. Matsuno said Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been briefed about the incident and is returning to Tokyo.
A crisis management HQ has been set up to gather information, he added.
WHO IS SHINZO ABE?
Hailing from a powerful political family, Shinzo Abe began his career in Japan’s lower house of parliament in 1993.
Abe first served as prime minister of Japan beginning in 2006, but stepped down after a year in office following a string of controversies.
After he became prime minister again in 2012, he employed economic policies dubbed “Abenomics”, pumping billions of dollars into Japan’s economic growth.
In October 2017, he won the parliamentary election and his fourth four-year term as Japan’s highest elected official. Over the next two years, his administration was rocked by scandals — allegations of favours for friends — and his popularity plummeted as critics called for him to resign.
After serving nearly eight years in office, health ailments like a relapse of bowel disease led Abe to step down in August 2020.
He has remained a dominant presence over the ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP) party, controlling one of its major factions.
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