Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in heart failure after apparently being shot during a campaign speech Friday in western Japan, NHK public television said Friday.

Japan’s outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks to the media as he arrives at the prime minister’s office for a cabinet meeting in Tokyo on Sept. 16, 2020. Japan’s NHK TV says on Friday, July 8, 2022, former Prime Minister Abe apparently was shot at and collapsed during a campaign speech. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

The broadcaster aired footage showing Abe collapsed on the street, with several security guards running toward him. Abe was holding his chest when he collapsed, with his shirt smeared with blood. NHK says Abe was rushed to a hospital.

Witnesses reported hearing gunshots in the apparent attack in Nara. He was standing while making an election campaign speech ahead of Sunday’s election for the parliament’s upper house.

Police arrested a male suspect at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder, NHK said.

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