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Global shock, sadness as former Japan PM Shinzo Abe shot and killed during campaign speech

Disturbing details have emerged about Shinzo Abe’s alleged killer after Japan’s longest-serving Prime Minister was assassinated at an event.

Megan Palin, Jessica Wang and Alex Blair
7 min read
July 9, 2022 - 7:35AM
Former Japan PM Shinzo Abe has died, aged 67

Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe has tragically died in hospital hours after being shot in front of horrified onlookers while delivering a speech at a political campaign event.

Citing a senior member of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, national broadcaster NHK said “former prime minister Abe died at a hospital in Kashihara city, Nara, where he was receiving medical treatment. He was 67.”

Nara Nishi Police and Nara Medical University Hospital officials later confirmed his death.

The assassination of the country’s best-known politician and longest-serving prime minister comes despite Japan’s strict gun laws and with campaigning under way ahead of upper house elections on Sunday.

Abe had taken to the stage at an outdoor venue to give a speech for his ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the precinct of Nara when he was shot multiple times from behind, about 11.30am local time on Friday.

The suspected gunman has been identified as 41-year-old Nara resident Tetsuya Yamagami.

In a press briefing, police said Yamagami was held for questioning at Nara Nishi police station and had confessed to shooting the former prime minister with a homemade weapon. The unemployed suspect told police that he believed Abe was linked to a “specific organisation” which Yamagami had a grudge against.

The police would not reveal the name of the organisation.

Local media reports say Yamagami is believed to be a former member of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, Japan’s equivalent of a navy. He is said to have left active service in 2005.

Shinzo Abe’s gunman could be seen looking on in the background at the event.
Shinzo Abe’s gunman could be seen looking on in the background at the event.

Suspected gunman allegedly confesses: ‘I aimed to kill’

A haunting photo captured at the event showed Yamagami standing behind Abe as he took up the microphone. Video and images from the scene taken moments later showed the former prime minister collapsing to the ground, with blood on his shirt after two loud blasts rang out.

Abe was transported to Nara Medical University Hospital in cardiopulmonary arrest but had no vital signs upon arrival and was unable to be revived, according to Hidetada Fukushima, the doctor who treated Abe.

During a news conference at Nara Medical University Hospital, doctors said Abe had sustained two bullet wounds to his neck, about 5cm apart, and also suffered damage to his heart.

He was pronounced dead at 5:03pm local time, just over five hours after he was shot.

While details of the suspect’s motives remain limited, local media outlets reported that Yamagami told police he was “dissatisfied with former Prime Minister Abe and aimed to kill him”. He is also reported to have told officers that he did not hold a “grudge against the former Prime Minister’s political beliefs”.

Shinzo Abe was shot in Nara, Japan, on Friday, with a man arrested for attempted murder. Picture: NHK News/ABC News
Shinzo Abe was shot in Nara, Japan, on Friday, with a man arrested for attempted murder. Picture: NHK News/ABC News
People rushed to his side to help save him. Picture: NHK World
People rushed to his side to help save him. Picture: NHK World

Authorities said they believe the suspect travelled by train to the location. They could not say how long the suspect had been in the area before the attack took place.

Abe reportedly had a team of security police with him but it appears the gunman was still able to get within a few metres of the politician without any sort of checks or barrier.

Photos circulating in the aftermath of the shooting showed the suspect standing just behind Mr Abe as he delivered a speech from a traffic island in Nara city.

News.com.au understands the security arrangements for Abe’s visit will form part of the police investigation into his murder.

Police said that a search of the suspect’s house in Nara has led to the discovery of several handmade weapons similar to the one used in the attacks.

Earlier, local media reported that explosives had been found in the house and NHK said bomb disposal technicians were preparing to carry out a controlled explosion on the premises, according to the BBC.

The police have stalled on answering several questions, saying: “There could be implications on the investigation” and they are therefore withholding their response.

Emergency medicine professor Hidetada Fukushima said the 67-year-old received over 100 units of blood in transfusions over four hours as he haemorrhaged from a wound in the heart.

The homemade gun was a shocking sight in Japan where gun crime is almost non-existent, with just 10 dying to firearms in a typical year.

Just two days ago, Business Insider published a long form explainer on how the tightly-packed country of over 120 million has “almost completely eliminated gun deaths”.

Japanese citizens must go through an intensive testing and training process before they can purchase a firearm, and even then they are reduced to purchasing rifles over something more concealable like a handgun.

They then have to pass mental-health evaluations, background checks, and must re-take safety regulation courses every three years, including a class and exam.

“Ever since guns entered the country, Japan has always had strict gun laws,” Iain Overton, executive director of Action on Armed Violence, a British advocacy group, told the BBC.

“They are the first nation to impose gun laws in the whole world, and I think it laid down a bedrock saying that guns really don‘t play a part in civilian society.”

World leaders react to Abe’s assassination

World leaders from the past and present - including prime ministers, presidents and the Queen of England - have expressed shock and sadness over the assassination of Abe.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded to the tragedy in a statement on Friday night.

“The tragic death of former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is devastating news. On behalf of the Australian Government and people,” Mr Albanese said. “We offer our deepest sympathies and condolences to Mrs Abe and to Mr Abe’s family and friends, and to the people of Japan.

“Mr Abe was one of Australia’s closest friends on the world stage. It was his vision that helped elevate our bilateral relationship to a Special Strategic Partnership in 2014. Under his leadership Japan emerged as one of Australia’s most like-minded partners in Asia – a legacy that endures today.”

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also addressed the incident in a tweet shortly after the news broke, describing Mr Abe as a “great leader”.

“Horrified by this terrible news from Japan,” he wrote.

“Abe Shinzo is one of the great leaders of our times. Right now we must hope and pray that he pulls through.”

Recently ousted PM Scott Morrison said he was “distressed” to hear the reports of an attack on Abe.

“PM Abe is a great and wise friend of Australia and one of the most important global leaders of the post war era,” he wrote on Facebook. “Our prayers are with him, his wife Akie and the people of Japan at this very difficult time.”

NATO Secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg sent his “deepest condolences” to the Abe family and the people of Japan in a tweet on Friday.

“Deeply saddened by the heinous killing of Shinzo Abe, a defender of democracy and my friend & colleague over many years,” Stoltenberg wrote.

Mr Abe was described as a great leader by former Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull. Picture: Kazuhiro NOGI/AFP
Mr Abe was described as a great leader by former Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull. Picture: Kazuhiro NOGI/AFP

Abe maintained a close relationship with the US during his time as prime minister, travelling with then-President Barack Obama to Pearl Harbor in 2016 and, later that year, becoming the first world leader to meet with then-president elect Donald Trump in New York, just two weeks after his election. As vice president, Joe Biden met with Abe both in Tokyo and Washington, CNN reports.

US President Joe Biden said he was “stunned, outraged, and deeply saddened” by the death of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday. “Above all, [Abe] cared deeply about the Japanese people and dedicated his life to their service. Even at the moment he was attacked, he was engaged in the work of democracy,” Biden wrote in a statement. “While there are many details that we do not yet know, we know that violent attacks are never acceptable and that gun violence always leaves a deep scar on the communities that are affected by it. The United States stands with Japan in this moment of grief. I send my deepest condolences to his family.”

The US ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, said Friday he was “saddened and shocked” by the shooting of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe at a campaign event.

“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 United States. The US Government and American people are praying for the wellbeing of Abe-san, his family, and people of Japan,” Emanuel said in a statement.

Shinzo Abe was delivering a speech before he collapsed. Picture: NHK World
Shinzo Abe was delivering a speech before he collapsed. Picture: NHK World

French President Emmanuel Macron said “Japan has lost a great prime minister.”

“On behalf of the French people, I send my condolences to the Japanese authorities and people after the assassination of Shinzo Abe. Japan has lost a great Prime Minister, who dedicated his life to his country and worked to bring balance to the world,” Macron tweeted.

Speaking before Abe’s death was announced, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned the attack, saying: “It is barbaric and malicious and it cannot be tolerated.”

“This attack is an act of brutality that happened during the elections – the very foundation of our democracy – and is absolutely unforgivable,” Mr Kishida said.

Local media has reported he was bleeding from the neck at the time he collapsed, with an NHK reporter claiming there were “two consecutive gun shots” heard at the scene.

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The local broadcaster reported authorities confiscated a gun from the man before he was detained.

In the past few weeks, Mr Abe had been campaigning on behalf of the Liberal Democratic Party ahead of the House of Councillors election on July 10.

– With AFP

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/world/asia/global-shock-sadness-as-former-japan-pm-shinzo-abe-shot-during-campaign-speech/news-story/bd1d7c09c50e5da7eb08178a852c4f3b