In the wake of the horrific assassination of Japan’s former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, the local police chief has taken responsibility for the lax security that allowed a man with a homemade version of a sawed-off shotgun to shoot and kill Abe.
“After the first report of the incident came at 11:30 a.m., and the situation was revealed, it was the height of the guilt and regret I’ve felt in my 27 years in law enforcement,” Nara Prefectural Police Chief Tomoaki Onizuka said at a Saturday news conference, as the New York Post reported.
“I feel the weight of my responsibility,” he continued visibly upset. “We can’t deny that there were problems with the security plan given how things ended.”
Japan’s National Police Agency has said that it will review the security protocols for the event where the assassin killed Abe. Onizuka’s police department was in charge of the security at Thursday’s event.
The country will hold its elections on Sunday, even in the wake of Abe’s death. Abe was campaigning on behalf of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) candidates when he was assassinated.
Abe was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister. He was a nationalist and fervent anti-Communist who cultivated a strong relationship with the U.S. His funeral services will take place Monday and Tuesday.
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