minutes into his speech for a parliamentary election the 67-year-old conservative politician fell to the ground shot from behind. medics airlifted him to the hospital and doctors attempting to save him with blood transfusions before they officially declared him dead. the gunman is in custody on charges of suspicion of attempted murder. the 41-year-old yamagami was tackled moments after the shooting next to what appears to be a double barreled handmade gun. the country has extremely strict gun laws making this attack more of a shock for the people of japan. abe came from a long line of similar figures. his grandfather was prime minister and foreign ministers now who are meeting at the g20 summit in bali expressed grief and solidarity with japan.
i lived there before my post in beijing up until a few months ago. i was always shocked to see how many young children would be walking alone by themselves on the streets, getting onto the subway, because this is the safe environment that japan is. so it is heartbreaking to see something like this happen in a country that is considered so safe and secure for residents and it just speaks volumes to the fact that police say the suspect used a handmade gun, alison. selina, thank you very much for all of that context. so leaders around the world sharing their heartbreak and outrage over this assassination. president biden met with abe many times over the years. the president ordering flags lowered half staff in abe s honor. in a statement, president biden says, quote, i am stunned, outraged and deeply saddened by the news. he was a champion of the alliance between our nations and friendship between our people. the united states stands with japan in this moment of grief. let s bring in
gunshot. japan s former prime minister shinzo abe has been shot dead during a campaign rally. police say the suspect used a handmade gun. the us presidentjoe biden signs an executive order to help safeguard access to abortion following the supreme court overturning of roe v wade. , ., ., . and at wimbledon, the defending men s champion proves too much for britain s cameron norrie. novak djokovic seals his place in sunday s final. and coming up on the bbc news channel, the latest from the women s euros in england. one of the tournament favourites, spain, survive an early scare, to get off the mark.
the most prominent figures in the country. so far little is known about the gunman. security tackled the 41-year-old man next to what is believed to be a double barreled handmade gun. the shooter is in custody and held on charges of suspicion of attempted murder and reportedly telling police that this was not about politics. now worth noting the attack is almost unfathomable for the people of japan. the country has some of the strictest gun laws. world leaders expressed shock as well. back in the u.s., u.s. president joe biden calling it a tragedy for japan and all who knew him. former president donald trump saying in part he was a man who loved and cherished his magnificent country, japan. former president barack obama tweeted i will always remember the work we did to strengthen our alliance. he stepped down in 2020 after having some health concerns.
in custody and we re not getting any officers hurt. we re not going to the hospital. we re not burying any officers. the only reason police officers were not killed in this is a little bit of good police work along with a whole lot of luck, shep. lot of luck because there were so many of these instances, trace. it was one after another. we were all stunned by it back here. yeah. yeah, there were eight in seven months. these guys were charged with three. that s all the evidence had. we re talking about one that was in february where a handmade gun was actually attached to a police gate. a police officer then opened that gate. the gun went off and the bullet whizzed by his head missing by a few inches. in march, someone actually torched the main building at a police department firing range. luckily, nobody was inside that building and in june, someone launched a military rocket toward the police department. that rocket fell short and it was not equipped to explode but police aren t