Tetsuya Yamagami, bottom, is detained near the site of gunshots in Nara Prefecture, western Japan. AP

Gulf Today Report

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida confirmed, on Friday, that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died after he was shot during a campaign.

Media outlets revealed that the perpetrator, Tetsuya Yamagami, a former sailor in the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, confessed to the police that he carried out the attack.

Nara Medical University emergency department chief Hidetada Fukushima said Abe suffered major damage to his heart in addition to two neck wounds that damaged an artery, causing extensive bleeding. He was in a state of cardio and pulmonary arrest when he arrived at the hospital and never regained his vital signs, Fukushima said.

Kishida added, "It is a barbaric act during the electoral campaign that forms the basis of democracy. An act that is absolutely unforgivable and I condemn it in the strongest terms.”

Japanese media confirmed that the attacker, who shot Abe twice from behind, was a 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, former Japanese Self-Defense Force sailor, and a resident of the city of Nara, where the former prime minister was giving his speech during the electoral rally.

The police stopped the gunman, who was found with a homemade weapon, and he did not put up any resistance.

According to the police, the assassin confessed to shooting Abe, stressing that he was resentful towards him and had intended to kill him.

Abe was Japan’s longest-serving leader before stepping down in 2020.

Public television NHK aired a dramatic video of Abe giving a speech outside a train station in the western city of Nara. He is standing, dressed in a navy blue suit, raising his fist, when two gunshots are heard. The video then shows Abe collapsed on the street, with security guards running toward him. He holds his chest, his shirt smeared with blood.