Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and gravely injured while campaigning Friday in southern Japan, according to public broadcaster NHK.
Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, was giving a speech in the city of Nara when he was shot around 11:30 a.m. (10:30 p.m. Thursday ET). NHK, citing the local fire department, reported that Abe was in a state of “cardiopulmonary arrest.” It said the suspected shooter appeared to have been apprehended.
Elections for the upper house of the Japanese Parliament are Sunday. Abe, 67, who stepped down in 2020, was campaigning for other members of the governing Liberal Democratic Party but is not a candidate himself.
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