Two loud sounds, a plume of smoke, then Abe collapses

TOKYO • It was the most prosaic of political scenes: a major party broker speaking on behalf of a loyal fellow politician two days before a parliamentary election.

Mr Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese prime minister, was stumping behind a traffic barrier on a street near the Yamato-Saidaiji train station in Nara, the ancient capital of Japan, on behalf of Mr Kei Sato, a fellow member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Shaking his fist and shouting into a microphone, Mr Abe praised the 43-year-old Upper House incumbent as a hope for the future of Japanese politics.

Mr Abe had been speaking for less than a minute when two loud sounds, like gunshots, rang out behind him.

Mr Yoshio Ogita, 74, secretary-general of the local chapter of the LDP, was standing next to Mr Abe. He heard the sounds and saw a plume of white smoke rising to the sky.

"I didn't know what had happened," he said in a phone interview. "I saw him collapse."

Mr Abe toppled from a red stump on which he had been standing to rise above the crowd.

A woman at the scene told public broadcaster NHK: "The first shot sounded like a toy. He didn't fall and there was a large bang. The second shot was more visible - you could see the spark and smoke."

Bloomberg reported that Mr Abe was shot from about 3m behind.

A reporter for NHK who was covering the speech said Mr Abe crumpled to the ground after the second shot, clutching his chest.

A man who was listening to Mr Abe's speech told the Asahi Shimbun that he thought a bomb had gone off.

The 26-year-old, who did not give his name, told the newspaper he heard a "bang" and felt a "blast". "I thought someone threw a bomb," he said.

By this time, the crowd was screaming and cries of "ambulance, ambulance", "AED (automated external defibrillator)" and for medical staff were heard, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

Bystanders rushed to Mr Abe's aid while three men in suits, believed to be part of the former prime minister's security detail, pinned down a man in a grey T-shirt and khaki trousers.

The man had tossed aside what appeared in video and photos to be a crude handmade gun.

A Kyodo News reporter said the weapon appeared to have its barrel wrapped with duct tape.

"He (the assailant) did not run away or fight when he was caught," a 53-year-old woman told the Asahi Shimbun.

Kyodo News published a photograph of Mr Abe lying face-up on the street by a guardrail, blood on his white shirt, Agence France-Presse reported.

People crowded around him, with one person administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

TV footage later showed the gunman standing across the road behind Mr Abe as he speaks.

The man, Tetsuya Yamagami, a former member of Japan's Maritime Self Defence Force, was arrested. Police said they retrieved a gun from the scene.

In the meantime, ambulances and fire trucks rushed to the scene, and as emergency workers rushed to administer CPR, Mr Abe was covered with a large blue tarp.

Emergency workers moved Mr Abe onto an ambulance, which took him to a nearby park.

There, under the cover of another blue tarp, he was put on a medical evacuation helicopter that took him to Nara Medical University Hospital where doctors tried to save him but failed.

He was pronounced dead at 5.03pm (4.03pm Singapore time).

The incident sent shock waves across Japan, where gun violence is very rare.

As news of Mr Abe's death spread, members of the public prayed and laid flowers near the spot where he had fallen.

TV Asahi reported that Mr Abe's body would be transferred to his home in Tokyo today.

There was also an outpouring of grief from around the world, and responses to the shooting flooded social media, with "Abe-san" the top trending topic on Japanese Twitter by yesterday afternoon.

"I can't stop shaking. This is the end of peaceful Japan," wrote Twitter user Nonochi. "There's plenty of politicians I'd like to see disappear, but assassination is inconceivable. It's the beginning of the end of democracy."

People also left their condolences on Mr Abe's social media accounts, thanking him for his contributions and service to the country.

In an editorial, The Japan Times said the murder of Mr Abe was "an attack on us all".

The newspaper described the incident as an act of terrorism and said there was no place for such behaviour in Japan.

"We live in a democracy where disputes and differences are resolved by voting in elections, not with violence.

"Japan is a democracy and it is currently engaged in the purest expression of the democratic pageant and process. The attack on former prime minister Abe in Nara on Friday is attack on us all."

NYTIMES, REUTERS, BLOOMBERG