Summary: former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe shot dead in Nara
- World leaders have paid tribute after former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe died, aged 67, after being shot while making a speech in the western city of Nara.
- Footage and accounts broadcast by Japanese media showed Abe’s speech interrupted by two loud bangs and smoke, with Abe stumbling to the ground after the second shot.
- Abe, the country’s longest-serving prime minister until he resigned in 2020, was flown to hospital by helicopter after the attack.
- At a news conference at Nara Medical University hospital, medics said Abe had no vital signs when he arrived at the hospital but that they conducted resuscitation. “It was extremely serious, it was very grave,” the medic said of his condition on arrival. Abe had two wounds in the neck and subcutaneous haemorrhage. He was confirmed dead at 5.03pm.
- Police arrested a 41-year-old man at the scene. He has been named as unemployed Tetsuya Yamagami, from Nara. He is a former member of the maritime self-defence force, according to Fuji TV. He reportedly left the force in 2005.
- Police told the media that that a 90-person taskforce has been established to investigate the crime, and that the suspect had admitted to shooting the former prime minister with a homemade weapon.
- The suspect told police that he believed Abe was part of a “specific organisation” Yamagami had a grudge against. The police would not reveal the name of the organisation.
- The police claim to have confiscated several similar homemade weapons to that used in the attack from a search at the suspect’s house.
- Mourners have been leaving flowers and offerings at a makeshift memorial at the site of the shooting.
- It was the first assassination of a sitting or former Japanese premier since the days of prewar militarism in the 1930s.
- In an emotional speech, Japan’s current prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said Abe had led the country “with great leadership”, and he was “lost for words”.
- US president Joe Biden has said he is “stunned, outraged and deeply saddened”, describing Abe’s death as a “tragedy for Japan and for all who knew him.”
Thank you for following our coverage, we will shortly be closing this blog. You can keep up-to-date with the latest reports and developments here.
Updated
Here is a video clip of Japan’s prime minster, Fumio Kishida, a protege of Shinzo Abe, struggling to keep his emotions in check as he spoke to the nation after the former prime minister was shot. Kishida said “The free and fair election, which is the root of democracy, needs to be protected no matter what. We will not be defeated by violence.”
