Shinzo Abe, former Prime Minister of Japan, died Friday after being fatally shot.
The assassination occurred early into a campaign speech in Nara, according to the Associated Press.
World leaders expressed shock over the killing, including current Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who called the attack “barbaric.”
During a subsequent press conference, Prime Minister Kishida suggested an investigation into this “despicable act” was in progress.
“We are not yet fully aware of the background to this crime, but whatever it may be, it is a despicable act that took place in the middle of an election, the very essence of democracy, and is entirely unforgivable in my eyes,” he said. “I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Abe was the country’s longest-running Prime Minister. According to local officials, perUSA Today, he was shot from behind just after starting Friday’s speech. While being transported to a nearby hospital, his heart stopped.
A suspect was arrested at the scene and later identified in a report from regional outlet NHK Television as 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami. In an initial report on the arrest, the gun used in the shooting was said to have appeared to be “handmade.”
In 2020, Abe announced he was stepping down from his position as Prime Minister due to health concerns.
“It is gut wrenching to have to leave my job before accomplishing my goals,” he told reporters at the time.
In an initial statement overnight, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said he and the rest of the world were “saddened and shocked” by the shooting. In a follow-up statement, Emanuel remembered Prime Minster Abe as “a leader ahead of his time.”
Others to have addressed the assassination at the time of this writing included French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and more.
“Horrible news of a brutal assassination of former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe,” the latter said in a tweet. “I am extending my deepest condolences to his family and the people of Japan at this difficult time. This heinous act of violence has no excuse.”
