Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was gunned down Friday while giving a speech in the Japanese city of Nara. This is reported by the Japanese broadcaster NHK† Abe was said to have been transported to the hospital unconscious. According to local media, he no longer shows any sign of life. The gunman, a man in his forties, was arrested.
A reporter for Japanese broadcaster NHK reports that two shots were heard during Abe’s speech. Several local media reported that the politician appears to have been shot from behind.
The former prime minister was in Nara, a city in the south of the Japanese island of Honsu, to campaign for the senate elections in Japan next Sunday. Abe was Prime Minister of Japan from 2006 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2020. He resigned in August 2020 due to health problems.