Categories: Top StoriesWorld

Shinzo Abe: what we know so far about killing of former Japanese PM

Sixty-seven-year-old died following shooting in Nara in western Japan, and a suspect has been detained.

  • Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe has died after being shot while giving a speech in the western city of Nara on Friday.
  • Abe appeared to be in a state of cardiac arrest when he was airlifted to hospital after the shooting. Emergency services said he had been wounded on the right side of his neck and left clavicle.
  • Police arrested a 42-year-old man at the scene. He has been named as Tetsuya Yamagami, from Nara. He is a former member of the maritime self-defence force, according to Fuji TV. He reportedly left the force in 2005.
01:11
Shinzo Abe shot: TV cameras capture attack on former PM and suspect’s arrest – video
  • Media reports quoted police as saying that the weapon thought to have been used in the attack was homemade. Japan’s gun-ownership restrictions do not allow private citizens to have handguns, and licensed hunters may own only rifles.
  • Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, had been in Nara giving a campaign speech ahead of this Sunday’s upper house elections when he was shot. All parties suspended campaigning after the shooting.
  • Japanese politicians reacted with extreme shock to the shooting. “I am incredibly shocked,” Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike told a regular news conference before Abe’s death was announced, fighting back tears and sniffling audibly. “No matter the reason, such a heinous act is absolutely unforgivable. It is an affront against democracy.”
  • Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, hastily returned to Tokyo from campaign events around the country. He called the shooting “dastardly and barbaric”.
  • Attacks on politicians in Japan are unusual. There have been only a handful in the last half century, most notably in 2007 when the mayor of Nagasaki was shot and killed by a gangster – an incident that resulted in still further tightening of gun regulations.
  • The last time a former prime minister was killed was in 1936 during Japan’s radical prewar militarism.
Ayoola Olaitan

Recent Posts

Dangote Finally Refinery Crashes Petrol Price

Dangote Refinery has crashed Petrol Price.     CityNews Nigeria reports that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Petrol Chemical…

1 hour ago

Phyna denied entry into Lagos restaurant over “Indecent” outfit

Phyna has taken to social media to express her outrage and disappointment after being denied…

2 hours ago

VAT Attribution and Derivation: A Personal Appeal to all Parties – By M. Nami

Introduction  I have read a ton of views on the proposed Nigeria Tax Administration and…

2 hours ago

Odumeje vows to take punitive action against Nigerians doing this to him in public…..

Pastor Odumeje has rendered a strong warning to those who make videos or take photos…

2 hours ago

UK court orders David Hundeyin to pay £95,000 for defaming BBC Journalist

David Hundeyin, a self-proclaimed Nigerian investigative journalist, has been found guilty of libel by the…

2 hours ago

Buhari And Malami Humiliated Onnoghen Because Of 2019 Election – Clark

Elder statesman and leader of the Ijaw nation, Edwin Clark, has claimed that former President Muhammadu…

6 hours ago