Shinzo Abe’s security personnel failed to use ‘potentially life-saving gap – Anand Mahindra

A gunman Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, opened fire at Abe while he was giving a speech at a campaign event in the southern city of Nara. Abe, 67, was pronounced dead by doctors at the Nara Medical University Hospital later that day. Yamagami, who was apprehended within minutes of the fatal shootout, admitted to the killing and stated he killed Abe as he believed the latter to be a part of the organisation that the unemployed shooter hated. The assailant who used a homemade gun to fire at Abe said the latter was linked to a religious organisation, which, he added, ruined the gunman’s mother financially.

Mahindra said Abe’s security personnel could have saved the leader by making use of a “potentially life-saving gap” between the first and the second shot.

“The first shot missed. There was a potentially life-saving gap until the second shot. Shouldn’t his security have jumped on Abe & flattened & covered him instead of chasing the assailant? He could have & should have survived this,” tweeted Mahindra & Mahindra Chairman on Saturday.

Mahindra’s observation is not without merit as Japanese police admitted to lapses in the security of the former prime minister.

“It is undeniable that there were problems in the security,” said Nara police chief Tomoaki Onizuka.

Abe was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister. He was campaigning for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to which he belonged when he was shot in Nara.