The 2.5 Seconds of Security Lapses That Sealed Shinzo Abe’s Fate

The 2.5 Seconds of Security Lapses That Sealed Shinzo Abe’s Fate
The first moment when a gunfire is shot while former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe speaks during an election campaign in Nara, Japan, on July 8, 2022, in this still image obtained from a social media video. Takenobu Nakajima/via Reuters
Reuters
Updated:

NARA, Japan—Bodyguards could have saved Shinzo Abe if they shielded him or removed him from the line of fire in the 2.5 seconds between a missed first shot and a second round of gunfire that fatally wounded him, according to eight security experts who reviewed footage of the former Japanese leader’s assassination.

The failure to protect Abe from the second shot followed what appeared to be a series of security lapses in the lead-up to the assassination of Japan’s longest-serving prime minister on July 8, the Japanese and international experts said.