Ex-Minister In ‘Grave’ Condition After Being Shot

Japan’s former Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe is in critical condition after being shot while delivering an election campaign speech in the city of Nara on Friday.

Gatekeepers News reports that Abe, who served as Japan’s prime minister from December 2012 to September 2020, was in Nara campaigning ahead of Sunday’s election for the parliament’s upper house.

Abe’s successor, Fumio Kishida has condemned the attack in the “strongest terms”, saying he was praying “from the depths” of his heart the 67-year-old would survive.

Kishida said the motive for the attack was not yet known as he cut short a campaign appearance in the northern prefecture of Yamagata and returned by helicopter to his official residence in the capital, Tokyo.

The NHK public broadcaster quoted Japanese police to have said Abe, the country’s longest-serving prime minister,  was shot from behind with a shotgun and said its reporter on the scene heard “what sounded like a gun going off twice”.

The broadcaster aired footage showing Abe collapsed on the street, with several security guards running towards him. Abe was holding his chest when he collapsed, with his shirt smeared with blood.

A 41-year-old male suspect has been taken into custody on suspicion of attempted murder, NHK said. The suspect, who was identified as Yamagami Tetsuya, was holding a gun, which police confiscated, it added.