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TOKYO: Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe has been shot in western region of Nara.
Abe, 67, collapsed and was bleeding from the neck, a source from his ruling Liberal Democratic Party said. The news was shared by chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, “Former prime minister Abe was shot at around 11:30 am.”
It added, “One man, believed to be the shooter, has been taken into custody. The condition of former prime minister Abe is currently unknown. After being shot, the former prime minister appeared to be in cardiorespiratory arrest, a term often used in Japan before a feared death can be officially confirmed by a coroner.
Abe had been delivering a stump speech at an event ahead of Sunday’s upper house elections when the apparent sound of gunshots was heard, NHK and Kyodo said. “He was giving a speech and a man came from behind,” a young woman said.
Read more: Shinzo Abe resigns as Japan’s PM over health issues
Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, held office in 2006 for one year and again from 2012 to 2020, when he was forced to step down due to the debilitating bowel condition ulcerative colitis. He is a hawkish conservative who pushed for the revision of Japan’s pacifist constitution to recognise the country’s military and has stayed a prominent politicial figure even after stepping down.
Japan has some of the world’s toughest gun-control laws, and annual deaths from firearms in the country of 125 million people are regularly in single figures. Getting a gun licence is a long and complicated process even for Japanese citizens, who must first get a recommendation from a shooting association and then undergo strict police checks.
