Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — one of the most consequential leaders in Japan’s postwar history — was shot in the chest while he was making a stump speech on a street in the city of Nara on Friday in what appears to be an assassination attempt. He is reportedly in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has described Abe as being in a “serious condition,” and a Nara official has said that the former prime minister is no longer showing vital signs.
Abe was unconscious when he was rushed to a hospital and was bleeding from the chest.