Shinzo Abe shot giving speech

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Not the kind of news we are accustomed to from Japan

Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe apparently shot during speech, reportedly in cardiac arrest, police say man arrested - ABC News

Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe apparently shot during speech, reportedly in cardiac arrest, police say man arrested​

Posted 44m ago44 minutes ago, updated 11m ago

Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has collapsed bleeding and is in heart failure after apparently being shot during a campaign speech in western Japan, NHK public television has reported.

An NHK reporter on the scene in the city of Nara said they heard two consecutive bangs during Mr Abe's speech.
Kyodo News said Mr Abe was unconscious and appeared to be in cardiac arrest.
NHK reported local firefighters said Mr Abe was showing no vital signs.

The broadcaster aired footage showing Mr Abe collapsed on the street, with several security guards running toward him.
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Shinzo Abe - Japan's longest-serving former prime minister - has died after being shot in the neck and heart as he made a campaign speech in the south of the country earlier today.

The 67-year-old, who served for a total of nine years over two terms, was gunned down in the city of Nara around 11.30am as he rallied support for the local candidate ahead of parliamentary elections on Sunday. His death was announced by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party six hours later, shortly after wife Akie arrived at his bedside.

Doctors said Abe was shot in the right side of his neck and torso, with wounds deep enough to reach his heart. He was 'bleeding profusely' when he arrived in hospital and was given 'a lot of blood transfusions' but could not be saved, medics said. His was pronounced dead shortly after 5pm local time.

Tetsuya Yamagami, 41 and a navy veteran, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder while wielding what appeared to be a home-made shotgun. Police say he has since confessed, telling them he wanted to kill Abe because he was 'dissatisfied' with him.

Witnesses said Abe was about to start speaking when Yamagami approached him from behind and fired two shots, the second of which felled him. Several members of Abe's security detail tackled Yamagami while others gave the politician chest compressions, before he was taken to hospital via helicopter.

Current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the shooting an attack on 'the foundation of democracy', describing it as 'heinous', 'barbaric and malicious', and 'absolutely unforgivable'. 'I would like to use the most extreme words available to condemn this act,' he added.

The shooting is a deeply shocking end to the life of Japan's best-known politician, taking place a country that prides itself on its low levels of violent crime and which has extremely tough gun laws.

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Didn't know much about him but I've been seeing that he was well respected and liked. Anytime something like this happens to a good person it's tragic. May he R.I.P.
 
Police have seized DIY weapons found at the home of Japanese ex-PM Shinzo Abe's 'assassin' including a nine-barrel 'shotgun' controlled by a mobile phone, as the suspect is set to be charged with murder tomorrow.

Weapons found at Tetsuya Yamagami's home included both a five and nine-barrelled shotgun, which appear to be electrically fired.

It comes as a top police official admitted that security lapses did allow an assassin to get close behind and fire his gun at former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe while he was addressing a campaign rally.

Abe was shot in the western city of Nara on Friday and airlifted to a hospital but died of blood loss. Police arrested Yamagami, a former member of Japan's navy, at the scene.

Video on Japanese television showed a man calmly approaching Japan's longest-serving prime minister from behind and firing.

Wiry and bespectacled with shaggy hair, the suspect was seen stepping into the road behind Abe, who was standing on a riser at an intersection, before unloading two shots from a 40-cm-long (16-inch) weapon wrapped with black tape. He was tackled by police at the scene.

Police confiscated Yamagami's homemade gun and several others were later found at his apartment.

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Yamagami jury-rigged the weapon from parts bought online, spending months plotting the attack, even attending other Abe campaign events, including one a day earlier some 200 km (miles) away, media said.

He had considered a bomb attack before opting for a gun, according to public broadcaster NHK.

The suspect told police he made guns by wrapping steel pipes together with tape, some of them with three, five or six pipes, with parts he bought online, NHK said.

Police found bullet holes in a sign attached to a campaign van near the site of the shooting and believe they were from Yamagami, police said on Saturday. Videos showed Abe turning toward the attacker after the first shot before crumpling to the ground after the second.

Unemployed Yamagami, 41, told investigators he acted because he believed rumours that Abe was connected to an organization that he resents, police said. Neighbours described him as a loner who did not reply when spoken to.

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