Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was unconscious and unresponsive after being shot in the chest during a political event on Friday, shocking a nation where gun violence is rare.
Abe, 67, was shot twice from behind about three meters (10 feet) away while campaigning for Sunday’s upper house election in the western city of Nara, broadcaster NTV said, citing an official in his ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Police arrested a local man in his 40s, Kyodo News reported.
Two videos broadcast by NHK showed what appeared to be gun smoke coming from behind Abe as he spoke and a man being tackled by security personal on the street soon afterward. Abe was rushed to a hospital immediately and may have gone into cardiac arrest, Kyodo News said, citing local firefighters.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other Cabinet members canceled campaigning and headed back to Tokyo. It’s unclear if the shooting will affect the timing of the election, which the LDP was expected to win easily. Early voting had already started.
“This comes as a grave shock,” Fukushiro Nukaga, a senior LDP member, said at the ruling party’s headquarters. “I can’t believe something like this would happen in Japan.”
U.S. Ambassador Rahm Emanuel called Abe “an outstanding leader of Japan and unwavering ally of the United States” while saying the American people were praying for him and Japan.
The yen gained with U.S. Treasuries after the news broke, as investors reflexively sought havens. Japan’s currency traded 0.4% higher at around 135.50 per dollar at noon Tokyo time. Nikkei 225 futures erased gains after news of Abe’s collapse.
Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, stepped down in August 2020 to undergo treatment for a chronic illness. Still, he remained politically influential pushing for more defense spending and warning China that any invasion of Taiwan would be disastrous for its economy.
Japan is a country with some of the strictest gun laws among leading economies and shootings are rare. But political violence still occurs from time to time: In 2007, Itcho Ito, the mayor of Nagasaki, died after being shot twice by a member of an organized crime gang.
Abe’s record-setting run brought stability to Japan after a revolving door of six administrations, including a previous stint by where he served as leader. Abe helped Japan escape from a cycle of deflation, endured a Trump administration that questioned the nation’s only military alliance, and worked to improve ties with its biggest trading partner China, which were at their most hostile in decades when he took office.
Abe is perhaps best known for his plans to revive Japan’s flagging economy through unprecedented monetary easing and regulatory reform that was eventually labeled “Abenomics.” He has been seen as a steady hand who has consolidated power during his record run and been able to overcome scandals, including one that came to light in 2017 over questionable government land allocations for schools provided to associates of Abe and his wife Akie.
