Heavily influential former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was killed by an assassin’s bullet, it was announced Friday morning, July 8, in the United States. The fatal attack occurred at 11:30 a.m. local time in the city of Nara. Abe’s assailant was caught in the act and remains under interrogation at this time.
Shinzo Abe shot dead in public
The security detail for Japan’s former beloved Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will have a lot of explaining to do. Apparently nobody was paying attention on the job, they were all watching the speech. That allowed amateur assassin Tetsuya Yamagami to stroll right up behind his political target and pull the trigger.
A little late, security realized what was happening. Yamagami’s first shot missed but his second didn’t. They tackled him after the damage was already done.
Video shows how stunned bodyguards use the only defensive weapons they have on hand, their briefcases. It wasn’t very effective.
One of the things which has leaked out to the public is a clue that while guns are strictly forbidden in Japan and not easy to come by, Shinzo Abe’s killer had a whole collection at home.
All eyes were on Shinzo Abe, including those of his security detail, who were supposed to be watching the crowd and surroundings. He was visiting the city of Nara to give “a political stump speech.” He had stepped down as prime minister due to his health but remained active in politics.
A loud bang caught everyone’s attention. “Abe remains on his podium as bewildered guards – who were all looking at him as he spoke – turn around and finally grasp what is happening, just a moment too late.”
A ‘lame attempt’ to stop it
The way DailyMail describes the security response, “Panicked, they try to put themselves between Abe and 41-year-old gunman Tetsuya Yamagami with one even flinging his briefcase in a lame attempt to stop what they all know is coming.” Shinzo Abe also seems to have “caught sight of his attacker for the briefest of moments before the second fatal shot is fired.”
He didn’t have a chance. Video shows his “shirt-front to ripple as pellets tear into his neck and chest, burying themselves in his heart.” Abe stumbled to the ground as guards futilely attempt first-aid at the scene. He was pronounced dead at the hospital from “massive blood loss.”
Yamagami didn’t insult anyone’s intelligence by denying anything. He told police “he wanted to kill Abe because he was a member of a ‘specific organization‘ that he disagreed with.” It isn’t clear at this time which “organization” that might be.
All that’s known for certain is that Yamagami wanted Shinzo Abe dead and he got his wish. He also clearly had the skills and resources to make it happen.
After they searched his home, police were stunned by the arsenal “of home-made weapons similar to the one used in the attack” Yamagami had amassed. They also hauled out a “number of explosives which have been taken to be destroyed.”
He apparently learned his weapon making skills as “a veteran of the country’s defense forces having served in the navy between 2002 and 2005.” He’s currently “unemployed” but he managed to take the train to where Shinzo Abe was scheduled to appear. He spent quite a while “lying in wait at the station where Mr Abe was due to give his speech before launching the attack.” Cops won’t say how long.
