Newsman: Japan’s longest-serving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated by a gunman during a campaign speech Friday in Nara, Japan Friday. Japan Police arrested a male suspect at the scene of the shooting in Nara, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters. He was then elected president of the Liberal Democratic Party and became Japan’s prime minister in 2006 at the age of 52 — the country’s youngest prime minister since World War II. Died at the age of 67.
Shinzo Abe was campaigning for his party’s candidates in the upcoming upper house election. Shinzo Abe was shot from behind minutes after he started his speech in Nara in western Japan. Local fire department official Makoto Morimoto said Abe was in cardio and pulmonary arrest after being shot. His heart stopped while he was being airlifted to a hospital, Morimoto said. He was pronounced dead later at the hospital.
Ministry of Defense officials said suspect Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, was arrested. Tetsuya Yamagami worked for the Maritime Self-Defense Force for three years until around 2005, NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster reported. The suspect said he was dissatisfied with and aimed to kill Abe in a police statement, NHK said, citing police authorities.
The shooting was “barbaric, and malicious, and it cannot be tolerated,” Prime Minister Kishida said. “We will do everything we can. I would like to use the most extreme words available to condemn this act.”
Japan has some of the strictest gun laws in the world.
Abe came into office as Japan’s prime minister in December 2012 and announced his resignation in August 2020 after a chronic illness resurfaced. Following his resignation, Abe remained an influential political figure in his Liberal Democratic Party. He was campaigning for the party when he was shot Friday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was “deeply saddened and deeply concerned” about the shooting, multiple outlets reported, adding that he did not know Abe’s condition.
Former President Donald Trump said it was “absolutely devastating news.” He said on his social media app, Truth Social, that Abe “was a true friend of mine and, much more importantly, America. This is a tremendous blow to the wonderful people of Japan, who loved and admired him so much. We are all praying for Shinzo and his beautiful family!”
Shinzo Abe was the first foreign leader to meet former President Donald Trump after Trump was elected in 2016.
Shinzo Abe was born to a politically powerful household. His maternal grandfather Nobusuke Kishi helped found the governing conservative Liberal Democratic Party in 1955 and led Japan from 1957 to 1960. His father, Shintaro Abe, was also a leading member of the LDP and was Japan’s foreign minister from 1982 to 1986.
