Moments before he was fatally shot from behind on Friday, Japanese former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was doing what he'd done for decades: getting up close to the crowds and stumping for a local candidate.
As is typical in Japan, where violent crime is rare and guns are scarce, security appeared to be light on Friday morning as Abe spoke at an intersection outside the Yamato-Saidaiji Station in the western city of Nara.
