Japaneses longest serving,prime Minister Shinzo Abe feared dead after being shot while delivering election spech

 

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been shot dead while campaigning on Friday in southern Japan, officials said.

Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, was giving a speech in the city of Nara when gunfire was heard around 11:30 a.m. (10:30 p.m. Thursday ET). Public broadcaster NHK, citing the local fire department, reported that Abe was in a state of cardio and pulmonary arrest, suggesting that his heart had stopped.

It said he had been admitted to Nara Medical University Hospital.

In brief on-camera remarks, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Abe’s condition remained “unknown” and that one person had been apprehended in relation to the shooting.

“Such a barbaric act is utterly unacceptable, and we categorically condemn it,” he said. Current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and government ministers traveling in various parts of the country would return to Tokyo immediately, he added.
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