Former Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abedied this Friday in hospital following suffering a firearm attack during a campaign rally in Nara (west), an act that caused great commotion in Japan and abroad.
The attack on the country’s best-known politician, 67, took place at a rally for Sunday’s senatorial electionsand despite the strict laws in the archipelago once morest the possession of weapons.
“A man believed to be the attacker is in custody,” Japanese chief of staff Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.
A 41-year-old man was arrested. for him murder and a weapon would have been confiscated, NHK reported, citing police sources.
According to several local media, the suspect would be a 41-year-old Japanese who He belonged to the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, the Japanese Navy.
Pictures broadcast by NHK show Abe standing on stage, when a bang is heard and smoke is observed. Then you can see how a man is immobilized by security agents.
“I was giving a speech and a man came from behind,” a young woman who was at the event told the NHK network.
“The first shot sounded like a toy. He didn’t fall but then there was a loud bang. The second shot was more visible, you might see the spark and the smoke,” he added.
Abe collapsed and was bleeding from the neck, a source from his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) told the Jiji agency.
“After the second shot, people surrounded him and gave him a heart massage,” the witness said.
Local PLD officials stated that they had not received any threat before the attack.
“Terror and violence”
The government announced the creation of a working group following the incident.
The American ambassador to JapanRahm Emanuel said he was “saddened and shocked” by the attack on Abe.
“We are all saddened and shocked,” Emanuel said in a statement. “Abe-san has been an outstanding leader of Japan and a staunch ally of the United States.”
“The American government and people are praying for the well-being of Abe-san, his family, and the people of Japan.”added the diplomat.
For his part, Gen Nakatani, an adviser to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, told reporters that “terror and violence can never be tolerated,” according to the Jiji agency.
Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, ruled the country in 2006 for a year, then returned to power between 2012 and 2020.
He is a hard-line conservative who promoted the revision of Japan’s pacifist constitution to recognize the country’s military, and remained politically relevant even following leaving power.
