Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, died after being shot twice on Friday while giving an election campaign speech.
He was shot in the chest and near the neck by a man who approached him from behind as he spoke in the city of Nara, according to witnesses, authorities and video footage.
Mr. Abe, who was 67 years old, was prime minister until late 2020 and was one of Japan’s best known but polarizing politicians. He was the de facto leader of the largest faction in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and wielded strong influence in the government despite standing down as prime minister in September 2020.
The attack happened while he was campaigning for the party’s candidates in a national election of the upper house of the Diet on Sunday.
Shinzo Abe, who served longer than anyone as Japan’s prime minister and bolstered the nation’s defense while struggling to lift its economy, died Friday at the hands of an assassin’s bullet. He was 67.
Mr. Abe served as prime minister from December 2012 to September 2020, the longest consecutive reign since Japan created a European-style government led by a prime minister in the late 19th century. He also occupied the job in an earlier stint from 2006 to 2007 and held the record for most total days in office.
The heir to a political dynasty, Mr. Abe championed a revival in the economic and military strength of a country that began to stagnate in the 1990s after its meteoric rise from defeat in World War II.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Japan is back,” Mr. Abe said in a February 2013 speech in Washington. “Japan is not, and will never be, a tier-two country.”