Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated on July 8, 2022. He was shot during a campaign speech in western Japan and later died of heart failure.
Abe was campaigning ahead of July 10 election for the parliament’s upper house. A man opened fire on Abe from behind with an apparently homemade gun as he spoke in Nara. Public broadcaster NHK quoted the suspect as telling police he was dissatisfied with Abe and wanted to kill him.
It was the first assassination of a sitting or former Japanese premier since the days of pre-war militarism in the 1930s. The attack was a shock in a country that is one of the world’s safest and with some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere.
Here is a look at some key dates in Abe’s life and career.
