Japan’s Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Shot While Giving Campaign Speech

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been shot during a campaign event on Friday morning in the western city of Nara. Abe, 67, was said to be unresponsive as he was rushed to the hospital by helicopter after the attack.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters afterward that Abe was in “critical condition” in the hospital and he was praying for his recovery.

Public broadcaster NHK said police have arrested a 41-year-old suspect named Yamagami Tetsuya for attempted murder and also that the police seized a gun at the scene of the shooting that appeared to be handmade.

“A barbaric act like this is absolutely unforgivable, and we condemn it strongly,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.

Video footage shared on social media showed Abe giving a speech near Yamato-Saidaiji station when a cloud of white smoke appears behind him. Witnesses told local media they heard two loud bangs before Abe collapsed to the ground.

Abe was in Nara to support a local candidate for the Upper House election scheduled for Sunday. Officials from the Liberal Democratic Party said that Abe’s speech had not been announced publicly beforehand and they had not received any threats before the shooting.

Abe had been the country’s longest-serving former prime minister. The former Liberal Democratic Party leader held office from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020, before resigning due to health reasons.

The shooting comes as a shock for a country that has suffered little political violence and maintains strict gun control laws.