Suspect who murdered former Japan Prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has been identified as Tetsuya Yamagami.
Information reads: “Breaking News: Shinzo Abe, Japan’s former prime minister, collapsed after a gunshot was heard as he delivered a speech, the country’s public broadcaster said.”
Mr. Abe, 67, appeared to be bleeding after a gunshot was heard in the city of Nara near Kyoto, according to a reporter for NHK, the public broadcaster. Kyodo News said Mr. Abe had been shot in the chest.
NHK, citing the police, said a suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, 42, had been taken into custody. He was a Nara resident, the report said.
Seigo Yasuhara, an official in the command center at the Nara Fire Department, said that Mr. Abe was under cardiopulmonary arrest and that he had been taken by an ambulance to a medical evacuation helicopter. He was then transported to Nara Medical University Hospital, the Nara Fire Department said.
Mr. Abe was unconscious and showing no vital signs, Mr. Yasuhara said.
Mr Abe was giving a stump speech for a political candidate in Nara at a road junction when the attack happened.
Eyewitnesses said they saw a man carrying what they described as a large gun and firing twice at Mr Abe from behind.
Security officers detained the attacker, who made no attempt to run, and seized his weapon which was reportedly a handmade gun.
The suspect has been identified as Nara resident Tetsuya Yamagami. Local media reports say he is believed to be a former member of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, Japan’s equivalent of a navy. He is said to have left active service in 2005.
Officials have yet to comment on the suspect’s motives, but local media outlet reported that Mr Yamagami told police he was “dissatisfied with former Prime Minister Abe and aimed to kill him”. He is also reported to have told offices that did not hold a “grudge against the former Prime Minister’s political beliefs”.
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