Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — Japan’s longest-serving premier and a figure of enduring influence — was in grave condition after he was shot during a campaign event Friday, an attack that shocked a nation where political violence and guns are rare.
“I am hoping that Abe will survive,” current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a statement televised nationwide, adding that medical professionals were doing their best to save him. “For this to happen during an election, which is the foundation of democracy is unforgivable. I condemn it.”
Abe, 67, was unresponsive after being shot from about three meters (10 feet) behind while campaigning for Sunday’s upper house election in the western city of Nara, and taken to a hospital. Police arrested a 41-year-old local man who was a former member of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on suspicion of attempted murder, FNN reported, citing several government officials.
