None of the media outlets are uttering a word about the exact condition of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, while it is learnt that he is not breathing and his heart had stopped.
Police arrested the suspected gunman at the scene of an attack that shocked many in Japan, which is one of the world’s safest nations and has some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Abe was in “grave condition” and he hoped Abe would survive. Kishida and his Cabinet ministers hastily returned to Tokyo from campaign events around the country after the shooting, which he called “dastardly and barbaric”.
“I’m praying for former Prime Minister Abe’s survival from the bottom of my heart”. Kishida told reporters at his office.
Shinzo Abe, who is 67 and was Japan’s longest-serving leader before stepping down in 2020, was in cardio and pulmonary arrest as he was airlifted to the hospital, local fire department official Makoto Morimoto said.
NHK public broadcaster aired dramatic footage of Abe giving a speech outside of a train station in the western city of Nara. He is standing, dressed in a navy-blue suit, raising his fist, when a gunshot is heard. Footage then shows Abe collapsed on the street, with security guards running toward him. He holds his chest, his shirt smeared with blood.
In the next moment, security guards leap on top of a man in gray shirt who lies face down on the pavement. A double-barreled device that appeared to be a handmade gun is seen on the ground.
Nara prefectural police confirmed the arrest of Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, on suspicion of attempted murder. NHK reported that the suspect served in the Maritime Self-Defense Force for three years in the 2000s.
Other footage from the scene showed campaign officials surrounding Abe. The former leader is still influential in the governing Liberal Democratic Party and heads its largest faction, Seiwakai. Elections for Japan’s upper house, the less powerful chamber of its parliament, are Sunday.
Abe is a political blue blood who was groomed to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi. His political rhetoric often focused on making Japan a “normal” and “beautiful” nation with a stronger military and bigger role in international affairs.
Shinzo Abe won six national elections and built a rock-solid grip on power, bolstering Japan’s defense role and capability and its security alliance with the US. He also stepped up patriotic education at schools and raised Japan’s international profile.
Kyodo News said Abe was not conscious and appeared to be in cardiac arrest. The agency said the former prime minister was attacked on a street near the Yamatosaidaiji Station in Nara.
The NHK public broadcaster has showed live footage of Abe’s wife, Akie, on her way by train to the hospital in Nara where he is being treated.
No one is telling reporters the exact condition of Shinzo Abe, while a source in Tokyo told this correspondent that the former prime minister is either dead or in a critical condition, wherefrom he may not return.
