Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died on July 8 after just being shot during an election campaign.

According to Reuters, this was the first assassination of a current or former Japanese premier since the 1930s’ prewar militarism.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned the shooting before Abe’s death was revealed. Kishida called it a  “act of brutality that happened during the elections – the very foundation of our democracy – and is absolutely unforgivable.”

When Shinzo Abe was evacuated to the hospital, a fire department officer stated that the former Prime Minister seemed to be in cardiac arrest.

Following the incident, police detained a 41-year-old man accused of carrying out the shooting. Tetsuya Yamagami was recognized as the man.

According to NHK, the suspect stated that he is displeased with Abe and wishes to assassinate the former Prime Minister.

Authorities were spotted grabbing a man wearing a grey T-shirt and beige pants after two bullets sounded out while Abe was giving a campaign speech outside a train station.

According to businessman Makoto Ichikawa, who was there at the time of the shooting, “there was a loud bang and then smoke.”

The businessman also stated that he spotted a gun the size of a television camera. “The first shot, no one knew what was going on, but after the second shot, what looked like special police tackled him,”  Ichikawa said about the Shinzo Abe shooting incident.