The top law enforcement officer in the Japanese city of Nara, where former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated on Friday, took responsibility for the security flaws that allowed the deadly shooting to occur, dubbing it the “biggest regret” of his 27-year career.
“I cannot deny there were problems with our security,” Nara prefectural police chief Tomoaki Onizuka said. “Whether it was a setup, emergency response, or ability of individuals, we still have to find out. Overall, there was a problem and we will review it from every perspective.”
The broad-daylight murder of the former prime minister shocked citizens of Japan, a nation with one of the lowest rates of gun violence in the world. He was delivering a campaign speech when he was fatally shot outside a railway station in Nara by a gunman wielding a homemade firearm.
Abe, 67, was pronounced dead at 5:03 p.m. local time on Friday, just more than five hours after the attack.
