Ex-Japan PM Shinzo Abe Dies After 'Barbaric' Shooting

Doctors were unable to save Shinzo Abe, Japan's former prime minister, after he was shot during a campaign event Friday. The 67-year-old died from his injuries after the attack in Nara, western Japan, public broadcaster NHK has confirmed. Abe, who resigned in 2020, was Japan's longest-serving prime minister. After the shooting, he was airlifted to a hospital where officials said he was in "grave condition" with wounds to his neck and chest; doctors tried to save him with a blood transfusion, the BBC reports. Footage aired by NHK showed Abe was shot from behind a few minutes after he started a speech.

A 41-year-old man was arrested at the scene. Police identified him as Tetsuya Yamagami but did not provide further details, the Guardian reports. Gun crime is very rare in Japan, with an average of fewer than 10 homicides involving guns per year in a country with a population of 125 million, and police believe the weapon involved was homemade, according to local media reports. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned the shooting as "dastardly and barbaric," the AP reports. (More Shinzo Abe stories.)