Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead during a speech in the city of Nara on Friday morning, several media outlets reported.
Security personnel on the spot immediately ran forward and wrestled down the perpetrator who could be arrested immediately.
Gunman Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, shot Abe twice with a home-made shotgun made out of two pieces of pipe attached to a wooden board, with a grip and electronic firing mechanism fitted underneath. It is not clear what kind of ammunition or gunpowder he used.
At 11 o’clock in the morning Swedish time, Japanese media announced that Abe had died in hospital.
The suspected perpetrator is described as a 41-year-old former soldier in the Japanese Navy.
The killer has admitted to the shooting, telling police he wanted to kill Abe because he was ‘frustrated’ with the former leader – though insists the grudge was not related to his politics. Shinzo Abe turned 67 years old.
Current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the shooting an attack on ‘the foundation of democracy’, describing it as ‘heinous’, ‘barbaric and malicious’, and ‘absolutely unforgivable’. ‘I would like to use the most extreme words available to condemn this act,’ he added.
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