JAPAN’S former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has died after being brutally shot twice in a bloody assassination as he made a speech.
The 67-year-old was blasted in the neck and chest by a lone gunman armed with what is believed to be a homemade weapons.
Cops seize a suspect who is believed to have shot Abe[/caption]
The shooter used a homemade gun which appears to be two pipes strapped to a plank[/caption]
Abe served as Prime Minister for nine years – the country’s longest consecutive term – and helped reshape Japan’s position on the world stage.
The motives for his murder remain unclear, but police captured Yamagami Tetsuya, 41, after the shooting in Nara, Japan.
Tetsuya is understood to have been a local and formerly served in Japan’s maritime self-defence force.
The shooting has made headlines around the world, causing shock in a country that is one of the world’s safest and with some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere.
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Horrifying footage shows Abe collapsing on the street clutching his blood-smeared chest as several security guards ran toward him.
Abe was airlifted to hospital – but was declared dead hours later despite efforts to save him.
He had been giving a speech at a campaign event for his former party, the Liberal Democratic Party, as upper house elections in Japan are due to take place later this week.
His security team were around him, but the gunman was able to draw his weapon and shoot the former statesman at close range “without being checked”.
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And with the cameras trained on him from members of the public and TV stations, the whole incident was captured on video.
Chilling footage from before the assassination shows the suspected gunman – wearing a grey shirt, brown trousers and a white face mask – lurking behind Abe.
And then video from moments later shows him wielding the sawn-off style weapon as security guards attempt to get between him and the former PM.
Piecing together the shocking events, further video then shows Abe delivering his speech.
It is suddenly interrupted by two huge cannon-like booms and huge puffs of white smoke.
Stunned onlookers barely make a sound as they desperately try to process what has happened.
And as Abe falls to the floor, his security team then charge and tackle the gunman – who drops his homemade weapon.
The gun appears two pipes strapped to a plank with thick black tape.
Pictures from the scene show Abe being helped by desperate members of the public as the men in black scenes bundle onto the gunman.
The former prime minister was not breathing and his heart had stopped – but there was a rush to try and save his life.
Tetsuya is believed to have served in the Japanese military for three years until 2005.
His motive remains unknown – and there have been conflicting reports in Japanese media that he held a “grudge” due to Abe’s politics.
The former prime minister was known for his “Abenomics” as he sought to revive Japan’s economy.
And he also row back on some of their post World War 2 traditionally pacifist military policies amid threats from China and North Korea.
Fumio Kishida, Abe’s replacement as prime minister, was rushed to his office by helicopter for emergency talks with officials.
Addressing the media, he described the shooting as a “heinous act”.
He added that the reasons for the “barbaric” shooting were not clear at this moment.
A video from BNO News showed bystanders rushing to help the former prime minister after he was shot at around 11.30am local time (3.30am BST).
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said of the arrest: “A barbaric act like this is absolutely unforgivable, no matter what the reasons are, and we condemn it strongly.”
Abe’s younger brother has told reporters in Tokyo that the former prime minister is currently receiving a blood transfusion in hospital as doctors urgently try to save his life.
His wife, Akie Abe, rushed to the hospital to be at her stricken husband’s side.
Japan has some of the strictest gun laws in developed nations, and such shootings are incredibly rare.
In 2007, Nagasaki’s mayor was shot and killed by a member of the yakuza criminal gang.
The head of Japan’s Socialist Party was assassinated with a samurai sword by a right-wing youth during a speech in 1960.
