NHK, a public broadcaster in Japan, claimed that two gunshots were heard as Abe was delivering a political rally in front of a train station.
Shinzo Abe, a former prime minister of Japan, was shot on Friday while making a speech in Nara as part of the country’s legislative election campaign. A 41-year-old man has been taken into custody by police as the main suspect in Abe’s shooting.
The man has been identified as Tetsuya Yamagami, who apparently resides in Japan’s Nara city, according to local media sources. Tetsuya is allegedly a former member of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, according to Japanese media.
The news that former prime minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed while out campaigning for Sunday’s upper house elections has brought Japan to a standstill.
Abe was shot by a lone shooter and was later declared dead at a hospital in Nara from injuries to his neck and chest. This atrocity will affect people long after this weekend’s elections.
It’s difficult to imagine a more unlikely setting for this to occur: Japan takes great pride in having a safe society. Nearly 30 years later, the Aum Shinrikyo cult’s sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway still have an impact because shootings in particular are so uncommon. Takayuki Ohigashi, the owner of a well-known restaurant chain who was fatally shot outside of his corporate headquarters in 2013, is still remembered for his unsolved murder. Even more unusual than regular assassinations are political ones: The only recent parallel may be the yakuza-related deadly shooting of the Nagasaki mayor in 2007.
Regarding the attack
NHK, a public broadcaster in Japan, claimed that two gunshots were heard as Abe was delivering a political rally in front of a train station. The chairman of Japan’s hunters’ association was quoted by NHK as saying that the gun used in the shooting attack may have been self-modified.
A shotgun may have been used in the attack, according to police.
About the murderer According to local Japanese media, Tetsuya Yamagami, a 40-year-old inhabitant of Japan’s Nara city, was the assailant. He said that he tried to kill Abe because he was “dissatisfied” with him, yet the reason for the attack is still unclear
The media also stated that Yamagami was a former member of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and that he served there from 2003 to 2005. He was shot from behind by a shooter who constructed the rifle himself, according to reports.
Abe was described as being in “grave condition” by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who expressed hope that Abe would survive. When Abe was being evacuated to the hospital, his heart apparently stopped beating. Abe was seen giving a speech outside a train station in the western city of Nara in the video that NHK public broadcaster released of the entire affair. Following a shooting, the video shows Abe lying motionless in the street as security personnel rush to help him.
