Nara Medical University’s emergency department chief said no bullets were found in the body of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when he was operated on after being fatally shot on Friday.
Hidetada Fukushima said Abe suffered major damage to his heart, along with two neck wounds that damaged an artery. He never regained his vital signs, Fukushima said.
Fukushima told the media that there was also a wound on Abe’s left shoulder from where the bullet could have left his body.
“We managed to control the bleeding from the main artery, but unfortunately could not resuscitate him,” he added.
According to Fukushima, approximately 20 medical staff attended the treatment in the emergency room.
But Abe died before being treated at the intensive care unit.
Abe was assassinated Friday on a street in western Japan by a gunman who opened fire on him from behind as he delivered a campaign speech—an attack that stunned the nation with some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere.
The 67-year-old Abe, who was Japan’s longest-serving leader when he resigned in 2020, collapsed bleeding and was airlifted to a nearby hospital in Nara, although he was not breathing and his heart had stopped. He was later pronounced dead after receiving massive blood transfusions, officials said.
Police at the shooting scene in Nara arrested Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, a former member of Japan’s navy, on suspicion of murder.
Police said he used a gun that was obviously homemade—about 15 inches (40 centimeters) long—and they confiscated similar weapons and his personal computer when they raided his nearby one-room apartment.
Police said Yamagami was responding calmly to questions and had admitted to attacking Abe.
