Former Japan PM Shinzo Abe killed as assassin’s bullet strikes Japan’s heart

World leaders recoil, country in mourning as Japan’s longest-serving PM ­assassinated by a lone gunman.

Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has been ­assassinated by a lone gunman in the most devastating act of political violence in the country since World War II.

Mr Abe, 67, was shot twice in the neck while giving a speech at a campaign event for a fellow member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Nara on Friday morning.

Doctors who treated him said a bullet pierced the former prime minister’s heart. Despite Mr Abe receiving more than a hundred units of blood in transfusions, they were unable to save him. He was declared dead at 5.03pm, minutes after his wife, Akie, arrived at Nara Medical University Hospital.

Akie Abe, wife of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, arrives at hospital, where her husband later died.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he was “lost for words”.

“I was praying that his life would be saved, but despite that, I came to learn of (his death). It is truly regrettable. I am lost for words. I offer my sincere condolences and prayers that his soul may rest in peace,” an emotional Mr Kishida said.

Mr Kishida recalled his cabinet to Tokyo to respond to one of the greatest political catastrophes of Japan’s post-war era.

He said the attack was a “barbaric and malicious act”. “This is the very foundation of democracy … It cannot be tolerated,” he said.

“During this election period, a despicable and barbaric act was committed... this is unforgivable. We condemn it once again in the strongest terms.”

Mr Kishida declined to comment on the motive of the shooter, saying he needed to wait on the ­results of the ongoing police ­investigation of the “heinous act”.

But police quickly named the suspect as Tetsuya Yamagami, an unemployed 41-year-old former member of the Maritime Self-Defense Force — the country’s navy — who lives in Nara, where the attack took place. Investigators said Mr. Yamagami told them he had a grudge against a group that he believed Mr. Abe was connected to.

A security officer seizes suspect Tetsuya Yamagami in the shooting of former Japan PM Shinzo Abe.

They provided no further details but said Mr. Yamagami told them he fired the shots and took a bus to the site of the attack. National broadcaster NHK ­reported that the suspect – who used an apparently homemade gun – was a former member of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Forces. The suspect told police he was dissatisfied with Mr Abe and intended to kill the ­former prime minister, according to NHK.

Mr Abe lies bleeding after the attack.

Inside Mr. Yamagami’s studio apartment in an eight-story building, police said they found several other improvised weapons. At the scene of the shooting, they retrieved a crude shotgun-type weapon made from metal tubes lashed together with tape.

The shooting took place two days before a crucial upper house election that could allow Mr Kishida’s LDP to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution.

Mr Abe is pictured on a stretcher at Nara Medical University Hospital in Kashihara, Nara Prefecture.

World leaders recoiled in horror at the attack — an especially shocking assassination given the country’s strict gun laws and low rates of violent crime.

US President Joe Biden visited the Japanese embassy in Washington to offer personal condolences, and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol described the killing as an “unacceptable act”. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen tweeted that the “brutal and cowardly murder” had shocked the world. Biden ordered flags to fly at half-mast on US government buildings through Sunday, and a day of mourning was declared in India.

Anthony ­Albanese said his tragic death was “devastating news”.

“On behalf of the Australian government and people, we offer our deepest sympathies and condolences to Mrs Abe and to Mr Abe’s family and friends, and to the people of Japan,” the Prime Minister said.

“Mr Abe was one of Australia’s closest friends on the world stage … Under his leadership Japan emerged as one of Australia’s most like-minded partners in Asia – a legacy that endures today … He will be greatly missed.”

Witnesses described shock as the political event turned into chaos. “The first shot sounded like a toy bazooka,” a woman told NHK. “He didn’t fall and there was a large bang. The second shot was more visible, you could see the spark and smoke.” Later in the day, mourners came to pay their respects as news of the attack sank in.

“I just couldn’t sit back and do nothing. I had to come here to dedicate flowers,” said Nara resident Sachie Nagafuji, 54, visiting the scene with his son.

“I really respected him and had faith in him as a politician.” Officials from the local chapter of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party said there had been no threats before the incident and that his speech had been announced publicly.

Mr Abe lies on the ground as bystanders perform CPR in the moments after the shooting.

Several parties announced their senior members would halt campaigning for Sunday’s election in the wake of the attack, but the ruling LDP and its coalition partner Komeito said canvassing would resume on Saturday.

Former prime ministers Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison worked closely with Mr Abe, as Tokyo and Canberra became increasingly close strategic partners.

Mr Turnbull said “Japan has lost its most important modern leader”.

Since stepping down in 2020 because of ill-health, he has remained in Japan’s parliament where he was the leader of the most powerful faction in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

He had repeatedly cautioned China against launching an invasion on Taiwan and warned that Japan needs to do more to counter Beijing’s military build up.

Mr Abe was campaigning for LDP member Kei Sato, who is running for re-election in the Japanese upper house election on Sunday.

People pray at the site where Mr Abe was shot.

Japan’s security and defence strategy has become a prominent issue in the campaign, following Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s repeated warnings about the Indo-Pacific lessons from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Changing Japan’s constitution is extremely hard, requiring a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament. In addition, any change requires a national referendum winning a majority of public support.

Japan has some of the world’s toughest gun control laws. Annual deaths from firearms in the country of 125 million people are regularly in single figures.

News of Mr Abe’s death is broadcast in Tokyo.

Getting a gun licence is a long and complicated process for Japanese citizens, who must first get a recommendation from a shooting association and then undergo strict police checks.

Corey Wallace, an assistant professor at Kanagawa University who focuses on Japanese politics, said the incident recalled the 1960 assassination of Inejiro Asanuma, the leader of the Japan Socialist Party, who was stabbed by a right-wing youth.

He noted that Japanese politicians and voters were used to a personal and close-up style of campaigning.

“This could really change,” he said.

With Agencies