Former Japan PM Shinzo Abe pronounced dead after shooting

Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe was pronounced dead on Friday afternoon, the hospital treating him confirmed, after he was shot at a campaign event.

“Shinzo Abe was transported to (the hospital) at 12:20 pm. He was in a state of cardiac arrest upon arrival. Resuscitation was administered.

“However, unfortunately, he died at 5:03 pm,” said Hidetada Fukushima, professor of emergency medicine at Nara Medical University hospital.

“One man, believed to be the shooter, has been taken into custody.”

“Whatever the reason, such a barbaric act can never be tolerated, and we strongly condemn it,” Matsuno added.

Local media including national broadcaster NHK and the Kyodo news agency said the former prime minister appeared to be in “cardiorespiratory arrest”, a term often used in Japan before a feared death can be officially confirmed by a coroner.

The attack on a man who may be Japan’s best-known politician comes despite the country’s famously low levels of violent crime and tough gun laws.

Abe had been delivering a stump speech at an event ahead of Sunday’s upper house elections, with security present, but spectators were able to approach him fairly easily.

Footage broadcast by NHK shows him standing on a stage when a loud blast is heard and smoke is visible in the air.

A man is then seen being tackled to the ground by security.

“He was giving a speech and a man came from behind,” a young woman at the scene told NHK.

“The first shot sounded like a toy. He didn’t fall and there was a large bang. The second shot was more visible, you could see the spark and smoke,” she added.

“After the second shot, people surrounded him and gave him cardiac massage.”

Abe, 67, collapsed and was bleeding from the neck, a source from his ruling Liberal Democratic Party told the Jiji news agency.

An official at Nara Medical University hospital told AFP: “What we can share now is that his transfer here has been completed,” declining to comment on the former leader’s status.

NOW WATCH: Former Japan PM Abe shot, feared dead