Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, died on Friday after he was shot during a campaign event in the city of Nara. He was 67.
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Former Japanese leader Shinzo Abe is assassinated at campaign event
Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, died on Friday after being shot at a campaign event, in an attack that shocked a country where gun violence is virtually nonexistent.
Eyewitness videos captured the moment when two shots were fired during the campaign rally in Nara, Japan.
Police on Friday raided the home of the man suspected of using an improvised firearm to assassinate former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and said they seized multiple weapons that also appeared to be homemade.
Gun violence is extremely rare in Japan, where handguns are banned and people must undergo extensive tests, training and background checks to obtain guns.
A divisive but dominant figure, while in power Abe sought to tackle the country’s pacifist Constitution and its struggling economy as well as elevate its standing abroad — particularly with the United States and its Western allies.
President Joe Biden, former U.S. presidents, members of Congress and officials expressed shock and offered their condolences. Biden said he was “stunned, outraged, and deeply saddened" by Abe's death.
