Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, 67, is feared dead after being shot.
According to the chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, Abe was shot at around 11.30 am(the country’s local time) while in the country’s western region of Nara but his current condition remains unknown.
The shooter is said to have been taken into custody.
“Whatever the reason, such a barbaric act can never be tolerated, and we strongly condemn it,” Matsuno added.
The incident occurred when Abe was delivering a campaign speech “ahead of Sunday’s upper house elections when the apparent sound of gunshots was heard.
According to a young woman who witnessed the incident, a man came behind the former prime minister and shot the first time, which sounded like a toy gun.
“He didn’t fall and there was a large bang. The second shot was more visible, you could see the spark and smoke. After the second shot, people surrounded him and gave him cardiac massage,” the woman narrated.
Apparently, he was bleeding from the neck according to a source from his ruling party Liberal Democratic Party.
Abe was the longest serving Prime minister. Having served from 2012-2020. He was forced to resign because of his health condition having been diagnosed with ulcerative cognitive He however first held the prime minister position in 2006 for a year.
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