Abe, 67, was shot from behind minutes after he started his speech in Nara. He was airlifted to a hospital for emergency treatment but was not breathing and his heart had stopped. He was pronounced dead later at the hospital

Police arrested the suspected gunman at the scene of an attack that shocked many in Japan, which is one of the world's safest nations and has some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere

Abe was Japan's longest-serving leader before stepping down in 2020. NHK aired a dramatic video of Abe giving a speech outside a train station in the western city of Nara

A man, center, is detained near the site of gunshots in Nara, western Japan. Pic/PTI