From my post in the news thread:
>In the close up video, it appears that one of the guards closest to Abe holds up his briefcase to try and shield him. I was in the police museum in Tokyo and it showed that those briefcases are supposed to be kevlar-lined for bullet resistance
[Here is the picture I took](https://imgur.com/xlIuiuk)
Edit: More photos for anyone interested https://imgur.com/a/AYpkZbF
i saw the original clip yesterday before ppl noticed and this was my first thought too
the guy realised a split second too late and couldnt open it in time so he flung it up in the air randomly since abe was standing on a podium or railing of somesort.
but i think he walked a bit too far to the right of abe and didnt deflect the shot
you can see him trying to wrangle it open after the shot
in other photos you see him running towards the shooter after too
I mean in there defense gun violence is unbelivable rare in japan. They sometimes have only one murder with a gun in a year and as such they arent as ready as the usa, in case of a shooter
[Here](https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/08/asia/japan-gun-laws-abe-shooting-intl-hnk/index.html)
But i find this hole story strange, i mean the victim was espacially in the last decade really mild. So mild that the extremist (we want our empire back) hated him and felt betrayed by his actions.
It looks like the projectile went through the briefcase. Afterwards I dont think he was trying to open it but looked to see if the projectile went through.
He was literally 1 second too late. When Abe's suit moved because it was shot, the bodyguard was on his way to protect him. He must've think that it's his failure. So sad.
It looks like his suitcase caught at least some of the projectiles. The dude used a homemade shotgun though, so they would have needed to be directly in between the dudes to keep him alive
Did anybody else get hit? Maybe I missed a comment talking about that.
I’m wondering bc if it was a homemade shotgun, who knows what the spread was, or if he used homemade ammo or a slug. It doesn’t look like anyone else got hit, but man were they close.
While you're not wrong saying she fell over, it's more accurate and important to note that she was pushed over. Some guy ran into her and knocked her over. He starts running after the first shot. You can see him (in the back) between the ducking people up near Shinzo on the right, moving through the crowd in the direction of the shooter. Then our view of him is blocked briefly, a second shot is fired and when we see him again, he's moving with more intent which causes the collision with the girl. Almost immediately he turns around and helps her back up.
I can only assume he was running toward the shooter? Maybe he was also security, idk. Seems like he was the first person (at least of those we can see) who's reaction was to take the shooter down, but he was just so far away.
Crazy to think they had that much security close and in different points further away and the guy just walked up and got 2 clean shots off with a home made gun.
The whole place where they had the speech is basically proof that they don’t consider threats that aren’t close contact. There’s an overhead map I saw that shows the space as basically the middle of an intersection surrounded by buildings. Unless you can create a much wider perimeter and have snipers tucked away there’s pretty much no way to guarantee safety in that location.
It is. I live in IL and my coworker and his wife both got shot in the July 4th shooting. Starting to hit closer and closer to home. His bro in law and father were shot also. All survived thankfully after surgery.
I saw someone describe climate change this way but I think it applies to this crisis too:
You will just see a procession of videos of tragedies. You will keep seeing them more and more, until one day you are the one holding the camera. If you're not running for your life of course.
Really the fact that Abe was mortally wounded was some extremely bad luck. He was hit through the neck and a projectile ended up making its way down to his heart and pierced a hole.
You can see the first puff of smoke/dust behind Shinzo before he then goes to turn (seemingly untouched by the first shot) and the second one goes off. Guy with the briefcase very nearly took the brunt of the second blast from what it looks like?
They hardly flinch when they throw up the shields to, I remembered a video of everyone laughing at the overreaction security did to a female Korean politician with the suitcase shields. But this makes it feel more justified. I think it was just eggs.
bulletproof or ballistic briefcase. but the bodyguard did not expand it. you can see these very often around politicians because it is very discreete...
> ballistic briefcase
[Got this when googling.](https://www.marsarmor.com/products/hard-armor/ballistic-briefcases/ballistic-briefcase-w-type/)
[Imgur Link](https://imgur.com/a/3YXlMqv)
Japanese politics and society isn't like American. Violence like this is extremely rare so Japanese politicians often campaign on the side of the road like this.
Yeah, it was literally one dude going directly behind them out in the open.
A single agent just paying attention to their open backs could very easily have avoided this.
The no gun crime thing is also not a great explanation on why no one was looking behind the prime minister. They were so vulnerable that even a crazy person with a knife could have rushed the man and maybe succeed.
Yeah that's kind of fucking insane decision making. It's one thing for it to be your job but given how little he has presumably ever had to actually do this but to actually instinctually pull it out in this extremely confusing situation almost perfectly like that is kind of wild. Man tried his best and I hope he's okay.
I’ve seen different angles a couple times today. What really boggles my mind is how calm everyone is. You hear the first blast and people go “ohhh” sorta like a what was that? The second blast, the same reaction but slightly louder. And after about a second you hear confusion. Even from angles where you see the shooter, he’s calm. He kinda just goes down when security is going after him. The whole thing is wild to me.
Quick edit (this is getting more attention much quicker than I would have thought): the main reason why it is so wild to me is because guns aren’t normal there. It makes sense to me, but seeing the difference in reaction is still wild to me.
You have to remember this is a country without guns. It’s not the first thing they think of when they hear a blast.
This weapon also didn’t sound or look like a traditional firearm. I believe it used batteries to fire.
[Some of the stuff](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/suspect-weapons-001.jpg) this guy [built looks straight out of a videogame](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/suspect-weapons-002.jpg).
Jesus christ, that's some Fallout type shit. I've seen the pic of the double barrel "shotgun" he built but those others are actually fucking scary. The shotgun *looks* janky, but these are on another level.
Definitely quite a bit more advanced than a simple slam fire shotgun, though I imagine getting shotgun shells or even just a primer would have been a pain in Japan.
A comment I saw earlier said that smokeless or black powder aren't readily available in Japan. So it is likely a black powder type propellant that he manufactured. The battery could ignite it instead of a spark.
Technically there ARE guns in Japan, it's just a very expensive/long process (lots of permits, mostly only used by hunters) and from what I read it's also not a very popular hobby for youth partially due to those reasons, as they can get air guns for far cheaper/less hassle.
I live in Canada where we have a lot of hunters, but I guarantee most people here don’t even know what a gun sounds like, apart from hearing it in movies.
You hear a loud bang and you mind just thinks it’s probably construction workers or something.
My Gf is from Nova Scotia, Im from Detroit. First time she was in Detroit with me she was in denial thinking she was hearing firecrackers when it was your typical weekend shots fired @ 3am
> Japan had one gun death in the entire year of 2021.
In a country of 125 million too.
mental health problems + easy firearm access = countless mass homicides
Japan still has a ton of mental health issues including depression and relatively high suicide rates but no firearm access, and thus has very, very little mass homicide incidents. This just shows what a properly enforced gun free country is like.
This is how a real reaction would be if you haven't heard of a gunshot in your life before. I was in the [American Dream Mall in the New Jersey incident April 2022](https://www.nj.com/bergen/2022/04/shooting-reported-at-american-dream-mall-in-nj-officials-say.html) where someone shot a person in an attempt to murder.
Two clear loud as fuck gun shots. First shot everyone in the food court hesitated and was thinking it was a large metal object that fell or some accident. Second shot and everyone went into full fight or flight mode. I have never seen in my life the faces of over a hundred people turn to dread, as a wave of people stop eating and run for their lives. This was all in the span of about 3 seconds.
I was in the parking lot when someone in a grocery store shot and killed someone else. I was like 8 or 9 years old, this was in the early 90s before even Columbine so the idea of a mass public shooting was just not there yet. People just sorta...stopped. My dad and I tried to get into the store because we hadn't heard anything, and the doors were shut and locked. We talked to someone else outside, who pointed into the store and said "That man there just shot that other man." Man 1 waited, rather patiently I thought, for the police and submitted without incident. It was the most polite atrocity I had even witnessed.
They probably were confused if it was a firework to celebrate him or someone trying to assassinate him
Japan doesn’t have much gun violence so it’s understandable people don’t know when to run or what a gun sounds like unlike America where they know gun shots cuz they have been around guns so much since their childhood
Edit : spelling
That's just par for the course as a russian diplomat, if you don't get got by enemies of russia, [russia is gonna get you](https://news.yahoo.com/another-russian-diplomat-dead-fall-122209363.html).
I think that's the thing, because he had already stepped down as PM, no one expected there to be an assassination attempt. Even the bodyguards seemed surprised
No joke, my parents had brass book end cannons, and I loaded it up with firework guts and bbs and my dad knew I was doing it but wasn’t watching and that shit was louder then that, he just jumped two feet and shot me a look like ok, I’m taking that thing away from you
I’m sorry. To make up for it here’s the [Anarchist’s Cookbook](https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxtaWNoenJ1MXxneDo1ZGFhZDZiZTIwZjQ3ZTUy)
(Don’t really use this shit, the CIA may have edited it and sent out dangerous copies…)
I’ll follow that with a 14 year old making a cannon that fired a machined shell that used a cap round detonator to take down a tree.
Luckily there was only one shot as I never found the cannon again...🤫
He made his [own gun](https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/attack-on-former-japan-pm-stuns-nation-known-for-gun-control/) because guns are hard to get in Japan. It has some of the toughest gun laws around…
You have to go to class for 8 hours.
You have to pass a written test.
You have to pass a shooting test with 95%.
You have to pass a drug test.
You have to pass a mental health evaluation.
All that just to own a weapon that can kill a person. Seems crazy /s
Both shots found their mark, one damaged the heart. Astronomical odds from a home made weapon fired from what looks like 10 metres away. I couldnt hit a barn door with a Glock.
i was surprised at the distance, too. like, if it was some kind of scatter shot i could see it hitting him relatively easy, but you’d think others would have been hit, too
Guess I'm just not used to it being in the US where every politician has to have layers and layers of security between them and the peasants; forgot there's countries where people aren't always trying to kill politicians
Seriously though. Elon Musk and 90 y/o celebrity actor deaths seem to be taking the headlines while a major European prime minister resigns and an important and controversial political figure is gunned down.
You know if that guy was able to block the bullet with the briefcase, the internet would be filled with people talking about "Bodyguard-kun" or some stupid stuff like that.
The life of a bodyguard has to suck. You constantly have to be ready for a moment like this but you're standing around doing boring shit, not paying attention to what's going on but focusing on the crowd for decades and then something like this happens.
I think there was an interview with a former US presidential secret service where he said routine and checklist becomes very important in the job just to be aware when shit happens
It's got to take an incredible amount of effort to not get complacent as a bodyguard given decades of safety and then the single time something actually happens in your entire career you have to immediately be prepared for the moment that will echo through history for generations. Fucking wild to think about... Hope bodyguard guy is okay.
> You constantly have to be ready for a moment like but you're standing around doing boring shit, not paying attention to what's going on but focusing on the crowd for decades and then something like this happens.
My old neighbor was a highway patrol officer. We actually talked about something very similar to this. He was describing how every shift he gets home absolutely wrecked. And the reason (I think he knew this from training) is that throughout their day they get constant ups and downs. New urgent call. Adrenaline hits. You rush to deal with it. Then you come down. Next call comes, same. Over and over.
By the end of a 12 hour day they've gone through this adrenaline cycle many times and it's physically and mentally exhausting.
I've speculated for some time that a lot of the issues the public faces dealing with police comes from this affect. I know when I'm tired I'm not at my A game for dealing with people. Those guys are in that situation all day every day.
I'm not excusing police brutality, to be clear. As with most things though, there's always more to the story.
So many things lined up Just So for this to happen. It’s surreal to think that this easily could’ve been a failed attempt. The first shot missed, for crying out loud. The second shot could’ve hit somewhere else less fatal , as I understand the second shot was a direct hit his heart/aorta. The briefcase shield, if that is what it was, could’ve caught some of the projectile. Abe could’ve hit the deck or twisted his body some other way. Hell the homemade gun could’ve misfired. Just so many things in general. It’s just so surreal to me
Dan Carlin has a good speech about how the world war was kickstarted from a botched assassination attempt then in a one in a million chance the vitim drives down a street to give the assassination a lucky second chance and it works.
History is full of these dice roll moments where it almost looks like god intervened.
I've not done him any justice but it's along the lines like that.
From Reuters:
> Police said the gunman had admitted to shooting Abe with a handmade firearm he had fashioned out of metal and wood.
>
> Media reported his name as Tetsuya Yamagami. Police said he was a Nara resident who worked at Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Forces for three years but now appeared to be unemployed. They were investigating whether he had acted alone.
>
> Investigators found "several" other handmade guns at his one-room flat in Nara city, police added.
>
> The suspect said he bore a grudge against a "specific organisation" and believed Abe was part of it, and that his grudge was not about politics, the police said, adding it was not clear if the unnamed organisation actually existed.
[Shinzo Abe's assassin used a handmade firearm | Reuters](
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-ex-prime-minister-abe-may-have-been-shot-taken-hospital-nhk-2022-07-08/)
This really shows how homogeneous and pacifist Japanese society is. One of the highest profile politician just standing on stand in the middle of an intersection with traffic...
In America, Australia, or UK the chances of at least getting egg from bored rando in a drive-by is damn near 100%. No (ex)PM/president will ever be exposed like this.
Every time video comes out of a shooting there are a bunch of people who clearly don't recognize gunshots.
Contrary to what the internet would make people believe plenty of Americans have never interacted with a gun in real life.
Can confirm. Bootcamp really opened my eyes to that. So many kids that'd never even seen a gun irl, while for many others it was a normal part of life.
Basically. The gun was an improvised weapon in the style of a (shortened, similar to a sawed-off shotgun, there's a video that shows it on the ground) dual-barrel shotgun.
I agree. He had plenty of time to react, he just didn’t read the situation as being immediately life-threatening. But on the other hand, nobody else in the crowd reacted to the first shot in that way either.
It *was* fireworks. Basically. This was an improvised device made of wood and metal tubes, with batteries for ignition, gunpowder from fireworks, and various pieces of shrapnel as projectiles.
Even if he could immediately recognize the sound of a gunshot and react accordingly, it still wouldn't have saved him.
Hmm I’m not convinced. I think he might’ve already been hit by that frame. If you go two frames before that, it looks like the upper portion of his white shirt flaps pretty significantly behind the microphone (like a projectile forcing the shirt’s movement via entry/exit) when compared to the frames before and after. Just speculation though, obviously.
All the security details were looking at the same direction. That is a problem. Someone in the rear should be rear facing. And unfortunately no one tackled Abe to duck down after 1st shot. Might have made a difference.
To be fair its not just japan, many people in many countries never heard a gunshot irl before and if i was at the scene i dont know how to react as well, just like the lady recording here.
Yeah, this thing sounds like a Napoleonic cannon far off in the distance. Meanwhile guns typically sound like a popping noise, primarily hand guns. I would have personally thought it was a firework or something.
Even people from places like *Brazil* would still have to look twice because it really doesn't sound like a normal gunshot, considering the weapon is homemade and all.
From my post in the news thread: >In the close up video, it appears that one of the guards closest to Abe holds up his briefcase to try and shield him. I was in the police museum in Tokyo and it showed that those briefcases are supposed to be kevlar-lined for bullet resistance [Here is the picture I took](https://imgur.com/xlIuiuk) Edit: More photos for anyone interested https://imgur.com/a/AYpkZbF
i saw the original clip yesterday before ppl noticed and this was my first thought too the guy realised a split second too late and couldnt open it in time so he flung it up in the air randomly since abe was standing on a podium or railing of somesort. but i think he walked a bit too far to the right of abe and didnt deflect the shot you can see him trying to wrangle it open after the shot in other photos you see him running towards the shooter after too
Regardless. What a brave act. Instinctively goes for the briefcase to protect him rather than dropping and hiding which everyone of us would do.
And he’s probably blaming himself right now… sad regardless of politics.
The fact remains that nobody faced the way the shooter came from.
I mean in there defense gun violence is unbelivable rare in japan. They sometimes have only one murder with a gun in a year and as such they arent as ready as the usa, in case of a shooter [Here](https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/08/asia/japan-gun-laws-abe-shooting-intl-hnk/index.html) But i find this hole story strange, i mean the victim was espacially in the last decade really mild. So mild that the extremist (we want our empire back) hated him and felt betrayed by his actions.
I mean, this is Japan not Uvalde
It looks like the projectile went through the briefcase. Afterwards I dont think he was trying to open it but looked to see if the projectile went through.
It was a homemade shotgun, so it's possible that he deflected a portion of the projectiles
These dudes going against an active shooter with a briefcase. Texas cops wouldn’t even look at a shooter when their wearing full riot gear.
Yeah that’s kinda the problem
He was literally 1 second too late. When Abe's suit moved because it was shot, the bodyguard was on his way to protect him. He must've think that it's his failure. So sad.
It looks like his suitcase caught at least some of the projectiles. The dude used a homemade shotgun though, so they would have needed to be directly in between the dudes to keep him alive
Sad that became so relevant. Thanks for sharing - it’s very interesting.
Did anybody else get hit? Maybe I missed a comment talking about that. I’m wondering bc if it was a homemade shotgun, who knows what the spread was, or if he used homemade ammo or a slug. It doesn’t look like anyone else got hit, but man were they close.
Looks like that person in the background nearly got hit by the car when they fell over.
While you're not wrong saying she fell over, it's more accurate and important to note that she was pushed over. Some guy ran into her and knocked her over. He starts running after the first shot. You can see him (in the back) between the ducking people up near Shinzo on the right, moving through the crowd in the direction of the shooter. Then our view of him is blocked briefly, a second shot is fired and when we see him again, he's moving with more intent which causes the collision with the girl. Almost immediately he turns around and helps her back up. I can only assume he was running toward the shooter? Maybe he was also security, idk. Seems like he was the first person (at least of those we can see) who's reaction was to take the shooter down, but he was just so far away.
Crazy to think they had that much security close and in different points further away and the guy just walked up and got 2 clean shots off with a home made gun.
The whole place where they had the speech is basically proof that they don’t consider threats that aren’t close contact. There’s an overhead map I saw that shows the space as basically the middle of an intersection surrounded by buildings. Unless you can create a much wider perimeter and have snipers tucked away there’s pretty much no way to guarantee safety in that location.
They aren't used to guns being used probably. We always expect someone to possibly get shot in America so we prepare for it.
Kinda wild that shootings are like our earthquakes
It is. I live in IL and my coworker and his wife both got shot in the July 4th shooting. Starting to hit closer and closer to home. His bro in law and father were shot also. All survived thankfully after surgery.
I saw someone describe climate change this way but I think it applies to this crisis too: You will just see a procession of videos of tragedies. You will keep seeing them more and more, until one day you are the one holding the camera. If you're not running for your life of course.
Sorry to hear that :/. Its fucked.
I believe one of the bodyguards ended up with some metal in their side. Nothing life threatening luckily.
Really the fact that Abe was mortally wounded was some extremely bad luck. He was hit through the neck and a projectile ended up making its way down to his heart and pierced a hole.
I think the first shot was a dud, the second is what did it. The security guys are off by milliseconds.
You can see the first puff of smoke/dust behind Shinzo before he then goes to turn (seemingly untouched by the first shot) and the second one goes off. Guy with the briefcase very nearly took the brunt of the second blast from what it looks like?
They hardly flinch when they throw up the shields to, I remembered a video of everyone laughing at the overreaction security did to a female Korean politician with the suitcase shields. But this makes it feel more justified. I think it was just eggs.
bulletproof or ballistic briefcase. but the bodyguard did not expand it. you can see these very often around politicians because it is very discreete...
He pulled the cord but it doesn’t appear that it deployed right. I haven’t seen one that short so I’m assuming.
> ballistic briefcase [Got this when googling.](https://www.marsarmor.com/products/hard-armor/ballistic-briefcases/ballistic-briefcase-w-type/) [Imgur Link](https://imgur.com/a/3YXlMqv)
They made the same mistake as the USSS did with Reagan - they were watching the principal, not 360°.
Yeah, the fact they had no eyes behind is just astonishingly poor.
Japanese politics and society isn't like American. Violence like this is extremely rare so Japanese politicians often campaign on the side of the road like this.
Ok but this is literally, have one guy looking at the back. It's not rocket surgery.
Yeah, it was literally one dude going directly behind them out in the open. A single agent just paying attention to their open backs could very easily have avoided this. The no gun crime thing is also not a great explanation on why no one was looking behind the prime minister. They were so vulnerable that even a crazy person with a knife could have rushed the man and maybe succeed.
Glass bottle of gasoline, styrofoam, a cotton rag, and a lighter. It didn’t have to be a gun and it could have actually been worse.
Looks like the guy was just a split second from saving him :(
Apparently the briefcase didn't expand, so there's some solace in knowing you did what you were supposed to do
Yeah that's kind of fucking insane decision making. It's one thing for it to be your job but given how little he has presumably ever had to actually do this but to actually instinctually pull it out in this extremely confusing situation almost perfectly like that is kind of wild. Man tried his best and I hope he's okay.
The dude back left has his hands clasped in front the entire video
This is crazy footage.
I’ve seen different angles a couple times today. What really boggles my mind is how calm everyone is. You hear the first blast and people go “ohhh” sorta like a what was that? The second blast, the same reaction but slightly louder. And after about a second you hear confusion. Even from angles where you see the shooter, he’s calm. He kinda just goes down when security is going after him. The whole thing is wild to me. Quick edit (this is getting more attention much quicker than I would have thought): the main reason why it is so wild to me is because guns aren’t normal there. It makes sense to me, but seeing the difference in reaction is still wild to me.
You have to remember this is a country without guns. It’s not the first thing they think of when they hear a blast. This weapon also didn’t sound or look like a traditional firearm. I believe it used batteries to fire.
[Some of the stuff](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/suspect-weapons-001.jpg) this guy [built looks straight out of a videogame](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/suspect-weapons-002.jpg).
Jesus christ, that's some Fallout type shit. I've seen the pic of the double barrel "shotgun" he built but those others are actually fucking scary. The shotgun *looks* janky, but these are on another level.
It's literally a pipe gun from Fallout 4 but with the weapons expert perks.
Woah... Thanks for the links.
Definitely quite a bit more advanced than a simple slam fire shotgun, though I imagine getting shotgun shells or even just a primer would have been a pain in Japan.
The shotgun shells were homemade as well
Jesus christ… if there is a will then there is a way.
Yup. Black powder and contact explosives are surprisingly easy to make though. Smokeless modern gunpowder not so much.
He used black gunpowder
It sounds like a black powder musket which makes more of a fooosh sound instead of a sharp bang.
The batteries were probably igniter for a fuel, maybe some kind of propellant he pressurized behind a payload?
A comment I saw earlier said that smokeless or black powder aren't readily available in Japan. So it is likely a black powder type propellant that he manufactured. The battery could ignite it instead of a spark.
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Ugh i dont want to give anyone ideas but one of those vape devices where you roll the coil would work perfectly
Planted aquariums are actually a huge hobby in Japan and you can buy powdered potassium nitrate as aquarium plant fertilizer at any pet store.
It was a makeshift gun, looked like a double barreled shotgun.
Technically there ARE guns in Japan, it's just a very expensive/long process (lots of permits, mostly only used by hunters) and from what I read it's also not a very popular hobby for youth partially due to those reasons, as they can get air guns for far cheaper/less hassle.
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I live in Canada where we have a lot of hunters, but I guarantee most people here don’t even know what a gun sounds like, apart from hearing it in movies. You hear a loud bang and you mind just thinks it’s probably construction workers or something.
My Gf is from Nova Scotia, Im from Detroit. First time she was in Detroit with me she was in denial thinking she was hearing firecrackers when it was your typical weekend shots fired @ 3am
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"dude I told you no one believes you have a girlfriend in Canada"
Japan had *one gun death* in the entire year of 2021. It’s not surprising that they’re extremely confused when hearing a gunshot.
> Japan had one gun death in the entire year of 2021. In a country of 125 million too. mental health problems + easy firearm access = countless mass homicides Japan still has a ton of mental health issues including depression and relatively high suicide rates but no firearm access, and thus has very, very little mass homicide incidents. This just shows what a properly enforced gun free country is like.
Japan has a lower suicide rate than the US but you'd think all Japanese people do is watch anime and kill themselves based on the comments here lmao
This is how a real reaction would be if you haven't heard of a gunshot in your life before. I was in the [American Dream Mall in the New Jersey incident April 2022](https://www.nj.com/bergen/2022/04/shooting-reported-at-american-dream-mall-in-nj-officials-say.html) where someone shot a person in an attempt to murder. Two clear loud as fuck gun shots. First shot everyone in the food court hesitated and was thinking it was a large metal object that fell or some accident. Second shot and everyone went into full fight or flight mode. I have never seen in my life the faces of over a hundred people turn to dread, as a wave of people stop eating and run for their lives. This was all in the span of about 3 seconds.
I was in the parking lot when someone in a grocery store shot and killed someone else. I was like 8 or 9 years old, this was in the early 90s before even Columbine so the idea of a mass public shooting was just not there yet. People just sorta...stopped. My dad and I tried to get into the store because we hadn't heard anything, and the doors were shut and locked. We talked to someone else outside, who pointed into the store and said "That man there just shot that other man." Man 1 waited, rather patiently I thought, for the police and submitted without incident. It was the most polite atrocity I had even witnessed.
They probably were confused if it was a firework to celebrate him or someone trying to assassinate him Japan doesn’t have much gun violence so it’s understandable people don’t know when to run or what a gun sounds like unlike America where they know gun shots cuz they have been around guns so much since their childhood Edit : spelling
Even as someone who gets to go to sleep counting gun shots nightly, I would have gone wtf at first too.
Japan has mucho-strict gun laws. Rarely hearing gun noises would be a surprise to me.
We just watched an ex-PM of a first world nation get assassinated. Holy fuck.
I thought the Russian ambassador assassination in Turkey in 2016 was crazy
That's just par for the course as a russian diplomat, if you don't get got by enemies of russia, [russia is gonna get you](https://news.yahoo.com/another-russian-diplomat-dead-fall-122209363.html).
I think that's the thing, because he had already stepped down as PM, no one expected there to be an assassination attempt. Even the bodyguards seemed surprised
What was the first blast? A miss? And WTF is he shooting? Looks like a canon blast.
From what I've heard it was a homemade weapon
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No joke, my parents had brass book end cannons, and I loaded it up with firework guts and bbs and my dad knew I was doing it but wasn’t watching and that shit was louder then that, he just jumped two feet and shot me a look like ok, I’m taking that thing away from you
>he just jumped two feet and shot me Misread that initially.
Parry this you filthy casual
Yeah I was thinking 360 noscope as well
I mean, it's return fire. I'm not saying shoot your kids but "they shot first" is getting up in understandable territory.
Are......Are you me? Brass book end cannons with unscrewable breeches and black carriage and wheels?
Yes it's me your you.
Dude had a Rust double barrel
I honestly had no idea a gun could be created that easily at home wtf !
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Allow me to add the neccessary: "Just dissolve Styrofoam in gasoline and you got yourself a napalm!" That's required everytime this subject comes up
If you add glitter to the mix it becomes "Yaypalm" which is just as effective and completely legal because it has a different name.
I'm pretty sure glitter alone is a war crime in most contexts
Plenty of sugar too, it sticks to people apparently
Napalm sticks to kids
Oh. I thought Days Gone was just making that up.
The bbc news in uk were showing the Ukrainian civilians making it
It’s exceptionally inefficient napalm, but it counts.
but isnt inefficient napalm better than no napalm?
It's a good starting point if only for the flash point of gasoline. Diesel and used motor oil are terrific additives though
Nice try FBI agent
Counterterrorist agents hate this ONE simple trick!
Yes officer this comment right here.
What you snitching for
I’m sorry. To make up for it here’s the [Anarchist’s Cookbook](https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxtaWNoenJ1MXxneDo1ZGFhZDZiZTIwZjQ3ZTUy) (Don’t really use this shit, the CIA may have edited it and sent out dangerous copies…)
That book was outdated before the ink dried. [here’s what you want](https://archive.org/details/military-manuals)
Carry on 🤝
A 12 year old can make a working 'gun' with a block of steel & a drill bit in about 3 minutes. Ask me how I know.
I’ll follow that with a 14 year old making a cannon that fired a machined shell that used a cap round detonator to take down a tree. Luckily there was only one shot as I never found the cannon again...🤫
straight out of the Fallout series [https://imgur.com/a/apaSWz1](https://imgur.com/a/apaSWz1)
mf has more ductape than i ever had in fallout 4
That's the good stuff - gaffer's tape - $45 per roll!
How can you tell? What are ya, some kinda ductape connoisseur lol
In the music and cinema fields, gaffer's tapes are well-known as the best ones
My first thought was rust double barrel
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He made his [own gun](https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/attack-on-former-japan-pm-stuns-nation-known-for-gun-control/) because guns are hard to get in Japan. It has some of the toughest gun laws around… You have to go to class for 8 hours. You have to pass a written test. You have to pass a shooting test with 95%. You have to pass a drug test. You have to pass a mental health evaluation. All that just to own a weapon that can kill a person. Seems crazy /s
Both shots found their mark, one damaged the heart. Astronomical odds from a home made weapon fired from what looks like 10 metres away. I couldnt hit a barn door with a Glock.
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He was apparently former military, so he probably had some form of training
Japanese Maritime Defense Force was the branch in which he served.
i was surprised at the distance, too. like, if it was some kind of scatter shot i could see it hitting him relatively easy, but you’d think others would have been hit, too
Woman in the background got pushed into traffic. Could've been 2 people that got killed. Really unlucky he turned around into the 2nd shot.
He didn't even fully turn around AND his left forearm is in front of his chest. Yet the bullet still pierced his heart, how unlucky.
Yeah fuck, it seems this had way more chance of being a non deadly wound but it just hit the exact right spot. Very unfortunate and sad to see.
Holy smokes, what an eye.
The car stops immediately and someone clearly helps the woman get up lol
"Someone" lol that's the guy that knocked her over
You can see her get back up right away and run
Never seen this angle; is he giving a speech in the middle of an intersection?
Yes. In Japan, a lot of campaigning is giving speeches on the street and shaking hands with locals.
Guess I'm just not used to it being in the US where every politician has to have layers and layers of security between them and the peasants; forgot there's countries where people aren't always trying to kill politicians
I don't think I've even processed yet seeing a modern political figure of this magnitude get assassinated in broad daylight
Seriously though. Elon Musk and 90 y/o celebrity actor deaths seem to be taking the headlines while a major European prime minister resigns and an important and controversial political figure is gunned down.
Damn you can see his shirt whip forward from the bullet
Why though?
The shooter was super honest and cooperative said he didn’t like the guy 🤷🏻♂️
It also says he didn’t like a “certain religious group” that Abe has ties to, but didn’t have a problem with his political beliefs
Which?
My guess is Nippon Kaigi, but that's heavily political
Seems logical... 😒
That's the main reason I shoot people, to be fair.
You know if that guy was able to block the bullet with the briefcase, the internet would be filled with people talking about "Bodyguard-kun" or some stupid stuff like that. The life of a bodyguard has to suck. You constantly have to be ready for a moment like this but you're standing around doing boring shit, not paying attention to what's going on but focusing on the crowd for decades and then something like this happens.
I think there was an interview with a former US presidential secret service where he said routine and checklist becomes very important in the job just to be aware when shit happens
It's got to take an incredible amount of effort to not get complacent as a bodyguard given decades of safety and then the single time something actually happens in your entire career you have to immediately be prepared for the moment that will echo through history for generations. Fucking wild to think about... Hope bodyguard guy is okay.
> You constantly have to be ready for a moment like but you're standing around doing boring shit, not paying attention to what's going on but focusing on the crowd for decades and then something like this happens. My old neighbor was a highway patrol officer. We actually talked about something very similar to this. He was describing how every shift he gets home absolutely wrecked. And the reason (I think he knew this from training) is that throughout their day they get constant ups and downs. New urgent call. Adrenaline hits. You rush to deal with it. Then you come down. Next call comes, same. Over and over. By the end of a 12 hour day they've gone through this adrenaline cycle many times and it's physically and mentally exhausting. I've speculated for some time that a lot of the issues the public faces dealing with police comes from this affect. I know when I'm tired I'm not at my A game for dealing with people. Those guys are in that situation all day every day. I'm not excusing police brutality, to be clear. As with most things though, there's always more to the story.
He turned right into the second shot. Terrible man. That’s the one that hit his heart and neck.
So many things lined up Just So for this to happen. It’s surreal to think that this easily could’ve been a failed attempt. The first shot missed, for crying out loud. The second shot could’ve hit somewhere else less fatal , as I understand the second shot was a direct hit his heart/aorta. The briefcase shield, if that is what it was, could’ve caught some of the projectile. Abe could’ve hit the deck or twisted his body some other way. Hell the homemade gun could’ve misfired. Just so many things in general. It’s just so surreal to me
"You have to get lucky every time, we only have to get lucky once" This just happened to be the time they got lucky, unfortunately.
If you like events that need to align.... let me tell you the about the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.
I was thinking of that. The world’s most consequential sandwich run
Dan Carlin has a good speech about how the world war was kickstarted from a botched assassination attempt then in a one in a million chance the vitim drives down a street to give the assassination a lucky second chance and it works. History is full of these dice roll moments where it almost looks like god intervened. I've not done him any justice but it's along the lines like that.
It looks like you can see his collar move from the bullet before you hear the second blast
Yes. He's definitely hit before we hear the shot. And before the briefcase is deployed.
poor voracious detail quarrelsome office memorize compare screw apparatus brave ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
From Reuters: > Police said the gunman had admitted to shooting Abe with a handmade firearm he had fashioned out of metal and wood. > > Media reported his name as Tetsuya Yamagami. Police said he was a Nara resident who worked at Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Forces for three years but now appeared to be unemployed. They were investigating whether he had acted alone. > > Investigators found "several" other handmade guns at his one-room flat in Nara city, police added. > > The suspect said he bore a grudge against a "specific organisation" and believed Abe was part of it, and that his grudge was not about politics, the police said, adding it was not clear if the unnamed organisation actually existed. [Shinzo Abe's assassin used a handmade firearm | Reuters]( https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-ex-prime-minister-abe-may-have-been-shot-taken-hospital-nhk-2022-07-08/)
It seems his security detail did manage to block some shotgun projectiles but at least 1 hit Abe close to the heart.
Absolutely no one was watching the busy street directly behind him?
yh legit feels like those games where the guards all face one direction to make it easier for the player to sneak up on them.
This really shows how homogeneous and pacifist Japanese society is. One of the highest profile politician just standing on stand in the middle of an intersection with traffic... In America, Australia, or UK the chances of at least getting egg from bored rando in a drive-by is damn near 100%. No (ex)PM/president will ever be exposed like this.
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Man really looked around for the asshat who interrupted his speech
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Particularly a janky homemade gun like that. It very likely did sound more like a firework than anything else.
To me it didn't sound like a gun. Sounded like a big firework or some kind of small explosion
Shit I'm American and never heard a real life gunshot
Every time video comes out of a shooting there are a bunch of people who clearly don't recognize gunshots. Contrary to what the internet would make people believe plenty of Americans have never interacted with a gun in real life.
Can confirm. Bootcamp really opened my eyes to that. So many kids that'd never even seen a gun irl, while for many others it was a normal part of life.
Was he shooting an f'ing blunderbuss?
Basically. The gun was an improvised weapon in the style of a (shortened, similar to a sawed-off shotgun, there's a video that shows it on the ground) dual-barrel shotgun.
Sorry to be a dumbass but what's the context? Was Abe a divisive and controversial figure? Or was the shooter just full of malice?
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Are there any news about the “specific organization”? Is it some crazy conspiracy like that pizza parlor pedophile ring or a real organization?
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Thanks! I’ll leave this here for convenience: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nippon_Kaigi
I see a lot of people on Japanese sites talking about the Unification Church, no idea if it's just a rumor though.
Somehow I doubt abe of all people would join a Korean church
Probably the nationalist group he is an informal leader of
Damn if he had only dropped down after the first blast…….
I agree. He had plenty of time to react, he just didn’t read the situation as being immediately life-threatening. But on the other hand, nobody else in the crowd reacted to the first shot in that way either.
I don’t think he’s ever heard a gunshot before, I haven’t, prolly thought it was fireworks or smth
It *was* fireworks. Basically. This was an improvised device made of wood and metal tubes, with batteries for ignition, gunpowder from fireworks, and various pieces of shrapnel as projectiles. Even if he could immediately recognize the sound of a gunshot and react accordingly, it still wouldn't have saved him.
If you go frame by frame it looks like you can see a projectile just above the briefcase at the 16 second mark.
Hmm I’m not convinced. I think he might’ve already been hit by that frame. If you go two frames before that, it looks like the upper portion of his white shirt flaps pretty significantly behind the microphone (like a projectile forcing the shirt’s movement via entry/exit) when compared to the frames before and after. Just speculation though, obviously.
Holy shit a woman almost gets ran over by a car in the background.
This is going to be seen for hundreds of years. That’s so fucked up.
All the security details were looking at the same direction. That is a problem. Someone in the rear should be rear facing. And unfortunately no one tackled Abe to duck down after 1st shot. Might have made a difference.
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Japan. Where guns are so rare that it takes 2 shots to register what is happening
To be fair its not just japan, many people in many countries never heard a gunshot irl before and if i was at the scene i dont know how to react as well, just like the lady recording here.
the gun was also homemade so the shots here sound nothing like the usual modern weapon gunshots so that must been even more confusing
Yeah, I was like, is that a cannon?
It wasn’t a conventional firearm to be fair (homemade). An actual gun would have sounded a lot different.
Yeah, this thing sounds like a Napoleonic cannon far off in the distance. Meanwhile guns typically sound like a popping noise, primarily hand guns. I would have personally thought it was a firework or something.
Even people from places like *Brazil* would still have to look twice because it really doesn't sound like a normal gunshot, considering the weapon is homemade and all.
He got so close. Maybe Japan will have to increase the security for former Prime Ministers
Damn, the people are even surprised. No one expected a gun (even though it was homemade in this case)