Abe, Japan’s oldest modern leader, was shot while delivering a campaign speech in the city of Nara on Friday morning by a 41-year-old unemployed man, in an act described by the political establishment as an attack on the democracy itself.
Politicians have vowed to continue their campaign ahead of Sunday’s vote, which is expected to see Japan’s ruling coalition win, while police have scrambled to establish the motive and method behind Abe’s killer.
The son of a political family who became Japan’s youngest post-war prime minister, Abe was rushed to a hospital in Nara after the shooting before being pronounced dead late afternoon. .
A vehicle carrying the body of the slain politician left the hospital before 6 a.m. (2100 GMT Friday), according to NHK, and was likely heading for his Tokyo residence.