Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been assassinated in a shooting while giving a speech on a street in Nara in western Japan Friday morning, hospital officials confirmed hours later.
Earlier Friday, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gave an emotional press conference where he said Abe, 67, was in “severe condition” and he hopes he will survive. Abe was taken from the scene of the shooting unconscious and in cardiac arrest with no vital signs, Japanese media outlets Kyodo News and NHK reported.
Kishida, who belongs to the same political party as Abe, returned to Tokyo from a campaign trip after the shooting. Kishida spoke to reporters at the prime minister’s office, saying Abe was receiving the utmost medical treatment. “I’m praying for former prime minister Abe’s survival from the bottom of my heart,” he said.
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