Former Japan Prime President Shinzo Abe is dead after being shot twice at a political rally. OduNews can confirm.
Abe was shot twice while he was giving a speech in the southern city of Nara on Friday morning.
He immediately collapsed and was rushed to the nearest hospital. Although pictures taken at the scene showed him bleeding.
The former Prime Minister has now been confirmed dead.
Security officials at the scene tackled the gunman, and the 41-year-old suspect is now in police custody.
In an emotional press conference a few hours later, prime minister Fumio Kishida told reporters that Mr Abe was in a “very grave condition”.
“Currently doctors are doing everything they can,” said Mr Kishida who appeared to be holding back tears, adding that he was “praying from his heart” that Mr Abe would survive.
He also condemned the attack, saying: “It is barbaric and malicious and it cannot be tolerated.”
The Fire and Disaster Management Agency confirmed that Mr Abe had a bullet wound on the right of his neck, and also suffered subcutaneous bleeding under the left part of his chest.
Mr Abe was giving a stump speech for a political candidate in Nara at a road junction when the attack happened.
Eyewitnesses said they saw a man carrying what they described as a large gun and firing twice at Mr Abe from behind.
Security officers detained the attacker, who made no attempt to run, and seized his weapon which was reportedly a handmade gun.
The suspect has been identified as Nara resident Tetsuya Yamagami. Local media reports say he is believed to be a former member of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, Japan’s equivalent of a navy.
Mr Abe’s speech came as part of a campaign for his former party, the Liberal Democratic Party, as upper house elections in Japan are due to take place later this week.
Ministers across the country were later told to return to Tokyo immediately, according to local reports.
On Japanese social media, the hashtag “We want democracy, not violence” was trending, with many social media users expressing their horror and disgust towards the incident.
