NARA, Japan — Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is dead.
Abe was shot while appearing at a campaign event in Nara, Japan Friday. Police took a man into custody who told he “aimed to kill” the former leader.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the shooting “is not a forgivable act.”
“I use the harshest words to condemn (the act),” Kishida said
Abe was Japan’s longest-serving leader before stepping down in 2020.
Nara prefectural police confirmed the arrest of Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, on suspicion of attempted murder. NHK reported that the suspect served in the Maritime Self-Defense Force for three years in the 2000s.
Yamagami is said to have used a homemade gun in the attack, which has come as a shock to many people in Japan since the country has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world.
