“It is a barbaric act at a time of elections, we can never ever forgive it.” Former Japanese president Shinzo Abe was shot several times with a shotgun while giving a campaign speech and with those harsh words he condemned what happened to his successor, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who has confirmed that Abe is “in serious condition” and that he is still The motivations of the attacker are unknown.
Abe, 67, was attacked from behind on the street, near a train station in the city of Nara (in the west of the country). In the midst of a campaign rally, he was shot twice, collapsed and began to bleed from his neck. Police have confirmed that he was hit in the neck and chest. He is in cardiorespiratory arrest – the term is usually used shortly before certifying the death of a person – and has been transferred to the hospital to try to recover his vital signs. Abe’s little brother, Nobuo Kishi, has said the former prime minister is receiving blood transfusions to try to save his life.
A man was arrested shortly after the attack, allegedly responsible for it. This is Yamagami Tetsuya, an unemployed 41-year-old former member of the Japanese army (specifically, the Maritime Self-Defense Forces). Tetsuya, originally from Nara, arrested for attempted murder, was holding the weapon with which he would have shot the former Japanese president. The assailant worked for three years in the army.
Abe was attacked while campaigning for next Sunday’s by-elections to the Upper House of the Diet (Japanese Parliament), in which Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and current Prime Minister Kishida hoped to revalidate their majority. The vast majority of political events in Japan are held in public places and with very little security deployment due to the low crime rate in the country.
Videos already circulating on social media show Shinzo Abe standing on a stage when suddenly a bang is heard. Later, several members of the security forces tackle a man.
It is still unknown what type of weapon Abe was attacked with and, above all, how the attacker, Yamagami Tetsuya, was able to get hold of it in a country where owning weapons is extremely difficult. As revealed by some media, including the BBC, Tetsuya may have built it himself.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed sadness over the attack on Abe, a Washington ally. “This is a very, very sad moment,” Blinken told reporters at the G20 in Bali. He indicated that his country is “deeply saddened and deeply dismayed.”
Abe has been the prime minister of Japan with more years in the service of his country. He governed the country in 2006 and then returned to power between 2012 and 2020. Hit by the harsh effects of the tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan found in Abe, in 2012, a leader who could move the country forward. He did it with his well-known “Abenomics” strategy, consisting of massive budgetary injections and profound structural changes.
The former prime minister, who comes from a family of politicians (his father was foreign minister and his grandfather was also prime minister in the late 1950s), was a key figure on the world political scene during his years in office.
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