(NewsNation) — Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated Friday in Japan by a gunman suspected of using a handmade weapon to kill the ex-leader while he was giving a speech in Nara, Japan.
Police arrested Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, at the scene on the suspicion murder. He admitted to attacking Abe.
Japan, a country with low gun violence, must now process this incident and try to piece together what happened, why it happened and how it happened. It’s an investigation that might not heed all those answers, said former secret service agent, now CEO of a security firm Chuck Marino.
“Anytime you see a targeted attack against a political leader it shakes not only the foundation of the country that it happened in, but it also shakes the foundation of democracies around the world,” Marino told “NewsNation Prime.” “This is going to take Japan not only sometime to understand why it happened, which there may never be an acceptable explanation, but it’s going to take them a long time to heal.”
The incident will, however, have sweeping implications for security in Japan.
“Whenever an incident like this happens I can guarantee you that everyone around the world that has protection services is paying attention to this,” Marino said. “They’re looking at what went wrong, they’re looking at manpower that was assigned, screening for weapons, looking at how the crowd was organized.”
Marino believes Japan’s low amount of gun violence could have led to security becoming complacent around Abe.
“From a protective standpoint, you’ve got to always expect something like this could happen,” Marino said. “What you hope didn’t happen here, and I think it goes to the general theme of how you see politicians interact with the public in Japan, I think it leads to a level of complacency.
“I think we’re seeing the result of what happens when you think it won’t happen here, based on the low numbers,” Marino added. “Unfortunately complacency can have horrible effects and we’re seeing that today.”
In his review of the incident, Marino believes the shooter approached Abe from behind, likely indicating there were not proper levels of security set up around the former prime minister.
“That’s why you always have what we call the inner protection bubble around the protectee, because they literally are the last line of defense,” Marino said. “You have to put forth a layered security plan, typically for public events that consist of an outer, inner and middle perimeter.”
