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JUST IN: Japan national police chief resigns over Abe assassination
Damning police report found Abe's security detail lacking.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe taken to hospital after being shot at while attending a campaign event on Friday, Picture – Citizen Stock
Japan’s national police chief has resigned over former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s assassination, AFP reports.
Abe was shot at a campaign event in July in the country’s western region of Nara.
Damning police report on Abe assassination
According to a report by AP, Japan’s National Police Agency Chief Itaru Nakamura’s decision to step down came after his agency released a report on how it failed to save Abe’s life on July 8.
The police report found holes in Abe’s security detail that allowed the alleged attacker to shoot him from behind.
But Nakamura did not say when his resignation would be official.
The alleged gunman, Tetsuya Yamagami, was arrested at the scene shortly after the shooting and is currently under mental evaluation until late November.
Yamagami told police that he targeted Abe because of the former leader’s link to the Unification Church, which he hated.
Abe’s family paid tribute to him in a private ritual Buddhist ritual Thursday, marking the 49th day of his assassination.
Abe’s last moments
Abe had been delivering a stump speech at an event ahead of Sunday’s upper house elections, with security present, but spectators could approach him fairly easily.
Footage broadcast by NHK shows him standing on a stage when a loud blast is heard and smoke is visible in the air.
Yamagami is then seen being tackled to the ground by security.
“He was giving a speech, and a man came from behind,” a young woman at the scene told NHK at the time.
“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,” she added.
“After the second shot, people surrounded him and gave him a cardiac massage.”
Abe, 67, collapsed and was bleeding from the neck.
*This is a developing story
Compiled by Narissa Subramoney
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