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Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was killed. Here's what the scene was like

By Catie Dull
Published July 8, 2022 at 11:00 AM EDT
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe makes a speech before he was shot from behind by a man in Nara, a city in western Japan, on Friday.
The Asahi Shimbun
/
Reuters
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe makes a speech before he was shot from behind by a man in Nara, a city in western Japan, on Friday.

Shinzo Abe, Japan's former prime minister, has died after being shot during a speech in western Japan.

The country's longest-serving prime minister, Abe was campaigning for a parliamentary election in Nara when he was shot from behind. He arrived at Nara Medical University without any vital signs and was eventually declared deceased.

Police in Nara arrested the suspected gunman, who was carrying what appeared to be a handmade, double-barreled weapon.

Here is what the scene looked like:

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

People on the street watch a TV broadcasting news about Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister of Japan, who was fatally shot while campaigning for a Liberal Democratic Party candidate at a gathering in Nara, Japan, on Friday.
David Mareuil / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
People on the street watch a TV broadcasting news about Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister of Japan, who was fatally shot while campaigning for a Liberal Democratic Party candidate at a gathering in Nara, Japan, on Friday.
Police officers at the scene where former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot during a political event in Nara, Japan, on Friday. Abe was unresponsive after being shot and later declared deceased at an area hospital, shocking a nation where gun violence is rare.
Kosuke Okahara / Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Bloomberg via Getty Images
Police officers at the scene where former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot during a political event in Nara, Japan, on Friday. Abe was unresponsive after being shot and later declared deceased at an area hospital, shocking a nation where gun violence is rare.
A man believed to have shot former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is tackled by police officers in Nara, a city in western Japan, on Friday.
The Asahi Shimbun / Reuters
/
Reuters
A man believed to have shot former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is tackled by police officers in Nara, a city in western Japan, on Friday.
People crowd around to pick up an extra addition of a newspaper reporting the shooting of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe along a street in Tokyo on Friday.
/ Jiji Press/AFP via Getty Images
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Jiji Press/AFP via Getty Images
People crowd around to pick up an extra addition of a newspaper reporting the shooting of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe along a street in Tokyo on Friday.
A photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter in Nara, a city in western Japan, on Friday, shows a helicopter carrying doctors and wounded former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, heading to the Nara Medical University Hospital in Kashihara.
/ Kyodo via Reuters
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Kyodo via Reuters
A photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter in Nara, a city in western Japan, on Friday, shows a helicopter carrying doctors and wounded former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, heading to the Nara Medical University Hospital in Kashihara.
A woman reacts in front of a makeshift memorial outside Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara, a city in western Japan, where former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed while speaking at a political event Friday.
Philip Fong / AFP via Getty Images
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AFP via Getty Images
A woman reacts in front of a makeshift memorial outside Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara, a city in western Japan, where former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed while speaking at a political event Friday.
Members of the media gather in front of the Nara Medical University Hospital where Shinzo Abe was taken after being shot while speaking at a political event on Friday in Nara, a city in western Japan.
Yuichi Yamazaki / Getty Images
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Getty Images
Members of the media gather in front of the Nara Medical University Hospital where Shinzo Abe was taken after being shot while speaking at a political event on Friday in Nara, a city in western Japan.
Pedestrians are silhouetted against a large public video screen showing an image of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Akihabara district of Tokyo on Friday after he was shot and killed in the city of Nara.
Toshifumi Kitamura / AFP via Getty Images
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AFP via Getty Images
Pedestrians are silhouetted against a large public video screen showing an image of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Akihabara district of Tokyo on Friday after he was shot and killed in the city of Nara.
Kimihiko Kichikawa (center left), the head of the university hospital, and Hidetada Fukushima (center right), professor of emergency medicine at the Nara Medical University Hospital, hold a news conference in Kashihara, Japan, where former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was taken after being shot earlier Friday.
Philip Fong / AFP via Getty Images
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AFP via Getty Images
Kimihiko Kichikawa (center left), the head of the university hospital, and Hidetada Fukushima (center right), professor of emergency medicine at the Nara Medical University Hospital, hold a news conference in Kashihara, Japan, where former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was taken after being shot earlier Friday.
A man prays outside the Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara, a city in western Japan, where former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot earlier in the day Friday.
Philip Fong / AFP via Getty Images
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AFP via Getty Images
A man prays outside the Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara, a city in western Japan, where former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot earlier in the day Friday.
Akie Abe (center), the wife of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, arrives at the Yamato-yagi Station on her way to the Nara Medical University Hospital where her husband was transferred after being shot at a political event on Friday in Nara, Japan.
Yuichi Yamazaki / Getty Images
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Getty Images
Akie Abe (center), the wife of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, arrives at the Yamato-yagi Station on her way to the Nara Medical University Hospital where her husband was transferred after being shot at a political event on Friday in Nara, Japan.
Japan's Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, speaks to media at the Prime Minister's official residence on Friday in Tokyo.
Eugene Hoshiko / AP
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AP
Japan's Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, speaks to media at the Prime Minister's official residence on Friday in Tokyo.
A man prays after putting a bouquet of flowers at a makeshift memorial at the scene where former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot to death while delivering a speech in support of a Liberal Democratic Party candidate at a political event in Nara, Japan, on Friday.
Hiro Komae / AP
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AP
A man prays after putting a bouquet of flowers at a makeshift memorial at the scene where former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot to death while delivering a speech in support of a Liberal Democratic Party candidate at a political event in Nara, Japan, on Friday.
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Catie Dull
Catie Dull (she/her) is a short-form video producer and photojournalist on the NPR visuals team. She is from Wilmington, North Carolina and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BA in Photo and Video Journalism.