Shinzo Abe shooting: Former Japanese prime minister assassinated while giving speech
ByBob D'Angelo, Michelle Ewing and Natalie Dreier, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
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Shinzo Abe shooting: Former Japanese prime minister assassinated The suspected shooter is in custody. (NCD)
ByBob D'Angelo, Michelle Ewing and Natalie Dreier, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
TOKYO — Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister of Japan, has died after he was shot during a campaign speech on Friday, according to public broadcaster NHK. Hospital officials also confirmed his death, The Associated Press reported.
A man was in custody at the site in western Japan on suspicion of attempted murder, according to NHK. Police later identified the suspect as Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, of Nara, The Washington Post reported, citing Japanese media reports.
Video footage from the scene showed what appeared to be a double-barreled, handmade gun on the ground next to the suspect as he was arrested, according to the AP.
Update 1:33 p.m. EDT July 8: President Joe Biden has ordered the U.S. flag to be flown at half staff until July 10 to honor Abe.
As Japan mourns, Tomohiko Taniguchi, a special advisor to Abe, equated the former’s prime minister’s assassination to that of President John F. Kennedy, CNN reported.
“I think it’s going to be an equivalent of JFK’s assassination day. ... It’s been a day of sadness, grief, disbelief, and for me, tremendous anger. People are finding it very much hard to digest the reality. I think it’s very much an isolated event conducted by very much an isolated person. Nonetheless, that isolated incident killed one of the most transformative leaders of the Japanese history,” Taniguchi said.
The alleged gunman admitted to shooting Abe. The man was identified as Yamagami Tetsuya, 41. He is unemployed. Police said Tetsuya has a hatred against a certain group that he believed Abe was connected to, CNN reported.
Update 5:43 a.m. EDT July 8:Officials with Nara Medical University Hospital said Abe was pronounced dead at 5:03 p.m. local time (4:03 a.m. EDT), according to The New York Times. The former prime minister was hemorrhaging from a heart wound and received blood transfusions for four hours, hospital officials told reporters. Doctors were never able to revive him, the newspaper reported.
Update 5:21 a.m. EDT July 8: Hospital officials have confirmed that Abe is dead, according to the AP.
Update 4:56 a.m. EDT July 8: Japanese public broadcaster NHK is reporting that Abe has died, according to the AP.
Update 2:52 a.m. EDT July 8:JapanesePrime Minister Fumio Kishida said Abe is in “severe condition,” according to the AP.
“Currently, doctors are doing everything they can,” Kishida added, according to The New York Times. “At this moment, I am hoping and praying that former PM Abe will survive this.”
Update 1:59 a.m. EDT July 8: The last known assassination with a gun of a prominent Japanese politician was in 2007, The Wall Street Journal reported. That year, the mayor of Nagasaki was shot by a member of a right-wing group.
Update 1:55 a.m. EDT July 8: Abe was speaking on behalf of Kei Sato, 43, a current member of the Upper House running for re-election in Nara, according to The New York Times. Abe had been speaking for less than a minute when two loud explosive sounds were heard behind him.
Yoshio Ogita, 74, secretary-general of Nara Prefecture’s Liberal Democratic chapter, was standing next to Abe and said he heard two loud sounds and saw a plume of white smoke.
“I didn’t know what had happened,” Ogita told the Times in a telephone interview Friday afternoon. “I saw him collapse.”
Update 12:57 a.m. July 8: Local fire department official Makoto Morimoto told reporters that former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in cardio and pulmonary arrest after being shot and was taken to a prefectural hospital. The condition means Abe had a sudden loss of heart function and breathing, CNN reported.
Abe was admitted to Nara Medical University Hospital, The Washington Post reported. Government sources cited in media reports said Abe was in critical condition.
Original report: Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister of Japan, was in heart failure and collapsed after being shot during a campaign speech on Friday, according to public broadcaster NHK. He was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition, officials said.
A man was in custody at the site in western Japan on suspicion of attempted murder, according to NHK. Police later identified the suspect as Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, of Nara, The Washington Post reported, citing Japanese media reports.
Abe, 67, served as Japan’s prime minister from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was the country’s longest-serving prime minister, according to The New York Times.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno confirmed that Abe was shot in the chest at about 11:30 a.m. local time and was rushed to a hospital, the Post reported. Abe was making a speech when he was shot from the back, the AP reported.
“Whatever the reason, such a barbaric act can never be tolerated, and we strongly condemn it,” Matsuno told reporters.
Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was shot at a campaign event Friday, public broadcaster NHK reported, adding that he was showing no vital signs. At least two gunshots were heard on-site.
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 8, 2022
At least two gunshots were heard at the site, the Post reported. Abe reportedly collapsed after the second shot was fired.
Seigo Yasuhara, an official in the command center at the Nara Fire Department, told the Times that Abe had been moved by ambulance to a medical evacuation helicopter and taken to a regional medical center. He was unconscious and not showing any vital signs, the official said.
Witnesses reported hearing gunshots in the apparent attack in the city of Nara, according to the AP. Abe was standing while making an election campaign speech ahead of Sunday’s election for the parliament’s upper house.
Abe was holding his chest when he collapsed, with his shirt smeared with blood, according to the AP.
Gun laws in Japan are among the world’s strictest and shootings are extremely rare, according to the newspaper.
Abe stepped down as prime minister in 2020 citing health reasons, the BBC reported. He later revealed that he had suffered a relapse of ulcerative colitis. He was succeeded by his close party ally, Yoshihide Suga, who was later replaced by Fumio Kishida.
Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, tweeted: “We are all saddened and shocked by the shooting of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. Abe-san has been an outstanding leader of Japan and unwavering ally of the U.S. The U.S. Government and American people are praying for the well-being of Abe-san, his family, & people of Japan.”
We are all saddened and shocked by the shooting of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. Abe-san has been an outstanding leader of Japan and unwavering ally of the U.S. The U.S. Government and American people are praying for the well-being of Abe-san, his family, & people of Japan.
Photos: Shinzo Abe through the years Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister of Japan, has died after he was shot during a campaign speech on Friday, July 8, 2022, Japanese public broadcaster NHK is reporting. Here are some memorable moments from his career. (Franck Robichon - Pool/Getty Images)
Photos: Shinzo Abe through the years 2006: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, left, meets with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Abe's office in Tokyo, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006. (AP Photo/Yoshikazu Tsuno, POOL)
Photos: Shinzo Abe through the years 2007: In this April 27, 2007, file photo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, and President Bush, right, attend a joint news conference at Camp David, Md. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
Photos: Shinzo Abe through the years 2010: Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, right, greets former Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the presidential office in Taipei, Taiwan, Sunday, Oct. 31, 2010. (AP Photo/Sun Chung-ta/Pool)
Photos: Shinzo Abe through the years 2012: Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, joins hands with a contender Shigeru Ishiba after winning the party leadership election of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party in Tokyo Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
Photos: Shinzo Abe through the years 2013: President Barack Obama shakes hands with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Photos: Shinzo Abe through the years 2013: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe smile together during a joint press conference following their meeting at Abe's official residence in Tokyo, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Photos: Shinzo Abe through the years 2014: Adm. Samuel Locklear, left, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, poses with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for photos at the start of their meeting at the latter's official residence in Tokyo, Monday, Feb. 3, 2014. (AP Photo/Kimimasa Mayama, Pool)
Photos: Shinzo Abe through the years 2015: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reacts as his papers are blown into the air in a gust of wind during his joint news conference with President Barack Obama, Tuesday, April 28, 2015, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Photos: Shinzo Abe through the years 2016: Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe visits with some of his country's Olympians at the Japan House at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Photos: Shinzo Abe through the years 2017: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrives for a working session with outreach countries and international organizations, at the G7 Summit, Saturday, May 27, 2017, in Taormina, Italy. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool)
Photos: Shinzo Abe through the years 2018: President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shakes hands during a news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Thursday, June 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Photos: Shinzo Abe through the years 2019: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, is escorted to review an honor guard ahead of the Japan Self-Defense Forces senior officers' gathering at Defense Ministry in Tokyo, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Photos: Shinzo Abe through the years 2020: Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe waves before leaving the prime minister's office Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Photos: Shinzo Abe through the years 2021: Former Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center, wearing a face mask, arrives at the National Theatre of Japan to attend the national memorial service for the victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Tokyo, Thursday, March 11, 2021. (Rodrigo Reyes Marin/Pool Photo via AP)
Photos: Shinzo Abe through the years 2022: Former Japanese prime ministers Shinzo Abe, left, and Yoshihide Suga speak as current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivering his policy speech at the lower house Monday, Jan. 17, 2022, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
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Photos: Shinzo Abe, former Japanese prime minister, shot during campaign speech People react after gunfire erupted in Nara, western Japan, Friday, July 8, 2022. Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in heart failure after apparently being shot during a campaign speech Friday in western Japan, NHK public television said Friday. (Kyodo News via AP)
Photos: Shinzo Abe, former Japanese prime minister, shot during campaign speech In this image from a video, Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe makes a campaign speech in Nara, western Japan, shortly before he was shot Friday, July 8, 2022. (Kyodo News via AP)
Photos: Shinzo Abe, former Japanese prime minister, shot during campaign speech Police inspect the site where Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot in Nara, western Japanm Friday, July 8, 2022. (Kyodo News via AP)
Photos: Shinzo Abe, former Japanese prime minister, shot during campaign speech People react after gunshots in Nara, western Japan, Friday, July 8, 2022. Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in heart failure after apparently being shot during a campaign speech Friday in western Japan, NHK public television said Friday. (Kyodo News via AP)
Photos: Shinzo Abe, former Japanese prime minister, shot during campaign speech Investigators work near the site of gunshots in Nara, western Japan, Friday, July 8, 2022. Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in heart failure after apparently being shot during a campaign speech Friday in western Japan, NHK public television said Friday. (Kyodo News via AP)
Photos: Shinzo Abe, former Japanese prime minister, shot during campaign speech This photo shows the hospital where Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was transported in Kashihara, Nara prefecture, western Japan, Friday, July 8, 2022. (Kyodo News via AP)
Photos: Shinzo Abe, former Japanese prime minister, shot during campaign speech In this image from a video, a man, center, is detained near the site of gunshots in Nara, western Japan, Friday, July 8, 2022. Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot during a campaign speech Friday in western Japan and was airlifted to a hospital, but he was not breathing and his heart had stopped, officials said. (Kyodo News via AP)
Photos: Shinzo Abe, former Japanese prime minister, shot during campaign speech In this image from a video, Tetsuya Yamagami is detained near the site of gunshots in Nara, western Japan, Friday, July 8, 2022. Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and critically wounded during a campaign speech Friday in western Japan. He was airlifted to a hospital, but officials said he was not breathing and his heart had stopped. (Kyodo News via AP)
Photos: Shinzo Abe, former Japanese prime minister, shot during campaign speech An employee distributes extra editions of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reporting on Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot, Friday, July 8, 2022, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Photos: Shinzo Abe, former Japanese prime minister, shot during campaign speech Employees prepare to distribute extra editions of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reporting on Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot, Friday, July 8, 2022, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Photos: Shinzo Abe, former Japanese prime minister, shot during campaign speech Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to media at the prime minister's official residence Friday, July 8, 2022, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)