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Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot earlier today, has died in the western city of Nara.
According to local media, he was campaigning in the western city of Nara when he was shot in the chest and the neck.
The 67-year-old Japanese ex-prime minister was shot at about 11:30 am (02:30 GMT while he was delivering a campaign speech on the street near a train station in Nara.
NHK said its reporter on the scene heard a gun going off twice before Abe collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest and bleeding. He was immediately taken to the hospital, but local media reported fire officials saying at the time that he was not showing any vital signs. A 41-year-old male suspect was arrested at the scene.
Read more: Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe shot
Abe became Japan’s longest-serving premier in November 2019, but by the summer of 2020, public support had been eroded by his handling of the COVID-19 outbreak as well as a series of scandals including the arrest of his former justice minister. He resigned without presiding over the Games, which were postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19.
He first took office in 2006 as Japan’s youngest prime minister since World War Two. After a year plagued by political scandals, voter outrage at lost pension records, and an election drubbing for his ruling party, Abe quit citing ill health.
