Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot has collapsed after he was shot while while making a speech for a Liberal Democratic Party candidate’s election in the city of Nara on Friday, July 8, reported Japan’s public media organization NHK.
Mr Abe was shot twice, with the second shot hitting him in the back, causing him to fall to the ground. Witnesses said Abe appeared to be bleeding from the chest after being shot from behind with a shotgun.
Videos of the incident are circulating online, including the arrest of the assailant. The suspect is reported to be a Japanese man around 40s. His name is Yamagami Tetsuya (山上徹也). He was reported to be a former marine of the Japanese Self-Defense Force.
Reports from Japanese Times said that Tettsuya used a chainsawed shotgun disguised as camera to assassinate Abe.
Abe was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister until he resigned in 2020.
