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By Beth Stibal |

Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe assassinated

Shinzo Abe
Japan’s newly-named Prime Minsiter Shinzo Abe smiles as he waves at the media upon his arrival at the prime minister’s official residence following his election at Parliament in Tokyo Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. Abe, whose nationalist positions have in the past angered Japan’s neighbors, is the country’s seventh prime minister in just over six years. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

(JAPAN) — Japan’s former Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has been assassinated.

Abe, 67,  was shot in the back at a campaign event in Nara, Japan Friday.

Abe, clutching his chest, collapsed and was airlifted to a local hospital with no vital signs and pronounced dead a short time later

Police apprehended a man who said he “aimed to kill” the former leader.

The man reportedly used a homemade gun in the attack.

President Joe Biden released a statement about Abe’s death Friday morning.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the shooting “is not a forgivable act.”