(Tokyo) Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shows no signs of life after he was apparently shot and wounded during a political event in the western Nara region, Tokyo has confirmed.
Updated at 0:09
The former chief executive was delivering a campaign speech at a political event ahead of Sunday’s senatorial elections when gunshots were heard, national broadcaster NHK and Kyodo news agency reported.
Mr Abe, 67, collapsed and was bleeding from the neck, a source from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) told the Jiji news agency.
PHOTO BY KAZUHIRO NOGI, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Shinzo Abe is Japan’s longest-serving prime minister.
Contacted by AFP, neither the PLD nor the local police were able to confirm this information immediately.
Both NHK and Kyodo reported that Mr Abe was taken to hospital and appeared to be in cardiopulmonary arrest – a term used in Japan indicating no signs of life, and usually preceding an official death certificate.
KYODO PHOTO BY REUTERS
Many emergency vehicles went to the scene of the attack.
Several media reported that he appeared to have been shot from behind, likely with a gun.
Police arrested a suspicious man at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder, NHK said.
US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said he was “sad and shocked” by the shooting attack on the former prime minister.
“We are all sad and shocked by the shooting attack on former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. Abe-san was an outstanding leader of Japan and a staunch ally of the United States. The government and people of the United States pray for the well-being of Abe-san, his family and the people of Japan,” Emanuel said in a statement.
Mr. Abe is Japan’s longest-serving prime minister. He was in office in 2006 for one year, then again from 2012 to 2020.
With the Associated Press