Shinzo Abe in ’very grave condition’ after being shot: Japanese PM

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, an arch-conservative and one of his nation's most divisive figures, was shot dead during a campaign speech on July 8 in western Japan. He was airlifted to a hospital but officials said he was not breathing and his heart had stopped. Later, Japan's NHK television said Abe has died in the hospital. 

Police arrested the suspected gunman at the scene of an attack that shocked many in Japan, which is one of the world's safest nations and has some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Cabinet ministers hastily returned to Tokyo from campaign events around the country after the shooting, which he called "dastardly and barbaric."

Abe was 67 and Japan's longest-serving leader before stepping down in 2020.

NHK public broadcaster aired dramatic footage of Abe giving a speech outside of a train station in the western city of Nara. He is standing, dressed in a navy blue suit, raising his fist, when a gunshot is heard. Footage then shows Abe collapsed on the street, with security guards running toward him. He holds his chest, his shirt smeared with blood.
In the next moment, security guards leap on top of a man in gray shirt who lies face down on the pavement. A double-barreled device that appeared to be a handmade gun is seen on the ground.

Nara prefectural police confirmed the arrest of Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, on suspicion of murder. NHK reported that the suspect served in the Maritime Self-Defense Force for three years in the 2000s.

Other footage from the scene showed campaign officials surrounding Abe. Elections for Japan's upper house, the less powerful chamber of its parliament, are Sunday.

"I use the harshest words to condemn (the act),...