Japan ex-prime minister Shinzo Abe dead after shooting during campaign speech

By NY Post

Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has died after he was shot while delivering a campaign speech in the western city of Nara on Friday.

Abe, 67, collapsed and was bleeding from the neck after he was attacked from behind during a stump speech at about 11:30 a.m. ahead of Sunday’s upper house elections, national broadcaster NHK and the Kyodo news agency said.

The former prime minister appeared to be in cardiac arrest and was later pronounced dead at 5:03 p.m. local time at the hospital, local media reported.

Japan’s longest-serving leader had been shot on the left side of his chest and also in the neck.

Doctors at a news conference said that Abe had died from excessive bleeding and that the bullet had penetrated far enough to reach his heart.

The suspected shooter, Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, was taken into custody on attempted murder charges and police recovered a gun from him, police and NHK reported. Yamagami served in the Maritime Self-Defense Force in the 2000s, according to local reports.

Chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno confirmed the shooting and the arrest, but initially told reporters “the condition of former prime minister Abe is currently unknown.

“Whatever the reason, such a barbaric act can never be tolerated, and we strongly condemn it,” chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.

NHK spoke to witnesses who said a man approached Abe from behind before at least two gunshots were heard.

“He was giving a speech and a man came from behind,” a young woman at the scene told NHK.

“The first shot sounded like a toy. He didn’t fall and there was a large bang. The second shot was more visible, you could see the spark and smoke,” the woman said.