Former Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe assassinated while giving speech [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated on Friday.
• Abe, the nation’s longest-serving prime minister, was shot while giving a speech in the city of Nara.
• Police arrested a 41-year-old man at the scene.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated on Friday while giving a campaign speech in Nara, Japan, officials said.

Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, has been the nation’s leader from December 2012 to September 2020, He resigned in 2020 due to ongoing health issues with ulcerative colitis, but retained his influence in politics.

While giving a campaign speech, the 67-year-old Abe was shot by a 41-year-old man who used a homemade firearm. There will be an election on Sunday for the parliament’s upper house.

The former PM was rushed to the hospital, but showed no vital signs, according to NHK. He sustained two gunshot wounds, one in the neck and one in the chest. Abe died shortly after 5 pm local time, medical officials said at a press conference.

The suspect was immediately apprehended right after the shooting and taken into custody.

The news comes as a shock around the world as shootings are extremely rare in Japan. The nation has some of the most restrictive gun control laws in the world.

“He was working for peace and stability in Japan and the world,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said after Abe’s death was confirmed. “He was a dear friend who loved this country,” Kishida added. “To lose such a figure in this manner is absolutely devastating.”

Kishda called the shooting “barbaric and malicious and cannot be tolerated” and an unforgivable act. He added that law enforcement will “take appropriate measures to handle the situation.”

Abe became prime minister in 2006 but had to resign after a year following several political scandals. He returned for a second term in 2012, vowing to revive the economy and amend the country’s pacifist Constitution. He did not succeed to accomplish the latter due to poor public support.

He established strong ties with the U.S., particularly with former President Donald Trump.

His popularity had declined by the time he announced his resignation in 2020 due to his handling of the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and a series of political scandals, according to the New York Times.

Abe, who turned around Japan’s economy from recession, advocated Abenomics — policies that revived the country’s economy out of deflation.

Source: ABC News