Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated during a campaign speech on Friday. He was 67.
Abe was in the city of Nara in western Japan giving a speech in support of his party’s candidates in the upcoming upper house elections when he was suddenly gunned down. He was airlifted to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead, according to hospital officials.
Nara prefectural police arrested the alleged gunman — identified as 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami — and recovered a weapon — described as a handmade shotgun — at the scene of the attack on Friday, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, a partner of ABC News.
The attack and a motive remains under investigation, but police said the suspect told investigators that he was dissatisfied with the former prime minister and intended to kill him, according to NHK.
Funeral plans for Abe have not yet been announced.
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World reacts to Abe’s killing
The deadly shooting shocked many in Japan and around the globe. Japan is one of the world’s safest countries and has some of the strictest gun control laws.
In an emotional speech from Tokyo on Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he was “lost for words” upon learning of Abe’s death. He said Abe had led the country “with great leadership” was his “personal friend,” and someone he has “spent a lot of time with.”
“I have great respect for the legacy Shinzo Abe left behind and I pay the deepest condolences to him,” Kishida said.
The prime minister called the Abe’s killing a “heinous act.”
“It is barbaric and malicious and it cannot be tolerated,” he added. “We will do everything we can, and I would like to use the most extreme words available to condemn this act.”
