Former PM Shinzo Abe.Photo: The Yomiuri Shimbun/AP
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe collapsed after delivering a speech in Nara, a city located in Japan, for a Liberal Democratic Party candidate’s election campaign just before noon (local time) on Friday.
A reporter forNHK, Japan’s public media organization, said Abe, 67, may have been shot, as they allegedly heard “what sounded like a gun going off” at the time. The reporter also said he was bleeding.
The fire department said Abe was in “cardiopulmonary arrest” and was scheduled to be transferred to Nara Medical University Hospital in Kashihara City, according to theoutlet. Per a follow-up report from NHK, the fire department said he is showing no vital signs.
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Aerial photos showed emergency personnel at the scene.
An aerial photo of the site where Shinzo Abe was shot in Nara City.The Yomiuri Shimbun/AP
PEOPLE has reached out to Japan’s Prime Minister’s Office for more information.
Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Tokyo/Seoul bureau chief forThe Washington Post, wrote in anupdate on Twitter: “Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary is giving a briefing on the Abe shooting. Threading here: At around 11:30am Abe was shot in Nara, his latest condition is unclear at the moment.”
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“The govt is coordinating on a response to the shooting, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said,” she continued. “All Cabinet members campaigning or helping campaigns have been requested to return to Tokyo, he said. ‘Such violence cannot be permitted,’ Matsuno said. More to come.”
Japan has one of the lowest rates of gun deaths in the world, according toBusiness Insider.
Abe served as prime minister of Japan from 2006 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2020, perCNN.
source: people.com
