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JUST IN: Ex-Japan PM Shinzo Abe Dies After Shooting Incident

Published

2 years ago

Jul 8, 2022.

Benard Joseph

Ex-Japan PM Shinzo Abe Dies After Shooting Incident.
Shinzo Abe, Japanese prime minister was shot in the early hours of Friday while delivering a campaign speech.

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EKO HOT BLOG reports that former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe had died in a hospital on Friday, hours after being shot at a political campaign event in an attack condemned as “absolutely unforgivable”.

Footage broadcast by NHK showed him standing on a stage when a man dressed in a grey shirt and brown trousers begins approaching from behind, before drawing something from a bag and firing.
At least two shots appear to be fired, each producing a cloud of smoke.

Confirming his death, a senior member of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, national broadcaster NHK said “former prime minister Abe died at a hospital in Kashihara city, Nara, where he was receiving medical treatment. He was 67.”

The death was also reported by other broadcasters as well as the Japanese news agencies Jiji and Kyodo.

The assassination of the country’s best-known politician comes despite Japan’s strict gun laws and with campaigning underway ahead of upper house elections on Sunday.

Earlier Prime Minister Fumio Kishida abandoned the campaign trail and flew to Tokyo by helicopter where he addressed reporters in a voice that wavered with emotion.

“Former prime minister Shinzo Abe was shot in Nara and I have been informed he is in a very grave condition,” he said.
“I pray that former prime minister Abe will survive,” he added, condemning “a barbaric act during election campaigning, which is the foundation of democracy.”
“It is absolutely unforgivable. I condemn this act in the strongest terms.”

At least two shots appear to be fired, each producing a cloud of smoke.
As spectators and reporters ducked, a man was shown being tackled to the ground by security. He was later arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, reports said.

Local media identified the man as 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, citing police sources, with several media outlets describing him as a former member of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, the country’s navy.

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He was wielding a weapon described by local media as a “handmade gun”, and NHK said he told police after his arrest that he “targeted Abe with the intention of killing him”.

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