BREAKING NEWS: Nagasaki Mayor gunned down

It has just been reported that Iccho Itoh, mayor of Nagasaki, has been gunned down near his campaign office in front of Nagasaki Station. The mayor was shot in the back quite openly by an assailant who was immediately apprehended. TV News was mentioning a possible connection to the Yamaguchi-gumi Yakuza gang. Itoh’s status is not immediately known at the time of this posting.

Update 1: Mainichi has just run a newsflash….

NAGASAKI — Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito was shot in front of JR Nagasaki Station on Tuesday evening, according to news reports.

Ito was taken to a local hospital, however details of his condition have not yet been made available. He did not respond to questions asked by paramedics.

The man who shot Ito was subdued on the spot before police apprehended him.

Ito is running for the mayoral election slated for April 22 to seek his 4th term. (Mainichi)

More from the AP:

Mayor Iccho Ito was shot on a street near his office, just in front of Nagasaki train station, according to local police official Isao Teramoto.

A man with links to organized crime was quickly detained, according to Kyodo News agency. N-H-K footage from Nagasaki showed several officers escorting a man into a police car, and an ambulance leaving the scene.

It was the second shooting in recent years of a mayor of Nagasaki, which was destroyed by a U.S. atomic bomb in 1945 and whose leaders have actively campaigned against militarism.

In 1990, former Nagasaki mayor Hitoshi Motoshima was shot and seriously wounded in 1990 after saying Japan’s emperor, beloved by rightists, bore some responsibility for World War II.

N-H-K news has just reported that the shooter’s is a 59-year-old member of the Yamaguchi-gumi named Shiro Testuya.

Update 2: Bloomberg now has more information…

Ito’s heart stopped beating later in hospital N-H-K Television reported, citing an unidentified government official.

The city office doesn’t know what Itoh’s condition is and is seeking more information, Yuko Kimoto, a spokeswoman, said by telephone today. Itoh, 61, was sent to Nagasaki University Hospital immediately after the shooting, she said.

Itoh was campaigning in his bid for re-election for a fourth term as mayor when the gunman shot him. The election will be held on April 22.

Kyodo News said the mayor is unconscious and in a serious condition. Local police arrested a suspect who belongs to a Yamaguchi-Gumi crime syndicate, Kyodo said.

Update 3: Mayor Itoh has died…

The mayor of the Japanese city of Nagasaki was shot to death in a brazen attack Tuesday by an organized crime chief apparently enraged that the city refused to compensate him after his car was damaged at a public works construction site, news agencies reported.
[...]
Mayor Iccho Ito, 61, was shot twice in the back at point-blank range outside a train station Tuesday evening, Nagasaki police official Rumi Tsujimoto said.

One of the bullets struck the mayor’s heart and he went into cardiac arrest, according to Nagasaki University Hospital spokesman Kenzo Kusano. Kyodo News agency and national broadcaster N-H-K said Ito died of his wounds early Wednesday.

Tetsuya Shiroo, a senior member of Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan’s largest organized crime syndicate, was wrestled to the ground by officers after the attack and arrested for attempted murder, police said.

He later admitted to shooting Ito with a handgun with the intent to kill, Nagasaki chief investigator Kazuki Umebayashi said at a news conference.
[...]
Shiroo reportedly clashed with Nagasaki city officials in 2003 after his car was damaged when he drove into a hole at a public works site. He tried unsuccessfully to get compensation from the city after his insurance company refused to pay up, according to Japanese broadcaster N-H-K.

Shiroo also sent a letter to broadcaster TV Asahi to protest recent money scandals linked to Ito, including hidden accounts and public works contracts, Kyodo reported.

Murdered because of inaction over a damaged car?

Update 4: Some video of the crime scene, from a TV news report:

Update 5: Some new information that has appeared since this morning:

• The National Police Agency has ordered police forces across Japan to tighten security on candidates during campaigns for local elections being held Sunday. [Link]
• Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called the killing a challenge to democracy. “We have to eradicate this kind of violence,” Abe told reporters. “I want a stringent investigation to be conducted by investigative authorities and for the truth to be discovered.” [Link]
• Bloomberg news has compiled a list of political killings/attacks in Japan since World War II. [Link]
• The Yomiuri Shinbun reports that “senior government officials and lawmakers of the ruling and opposition parties reacted strongly” to news of the killing. [Link]
• Mainichi Shinbun has revealed that the shooter “had sent letters to TV Asahi criticizing the mayor.” [Link]

Update 6: From Mainichi…

The son-in-law of murdered Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito declared his candidacy on Wednesday in the upcoming mayoral election in a bid to succeed him.

Makoto Yokoo, 40, a reporter at the Nishinippon Shimbun regional daily, is set to file his candidacy with the local election administration commission.

Update 7: A private funeral was held today for Mayor Itcho Ito, and police believe the grudge over car damage may be behind Nagasaki mayor’s murder.
Update 8: Some new articles on the case:

• “The man who gunned down Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito told his friends that he was going to attack the mayor, after the municipal government excluded a yakuza-linked construction company from city-related projects, police said. “- Mainichi Shinbun
• “The arrested gunman who fatally shot Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito on Tuesday is suspected to have had accomplices and prepared a getaway vehicle, police sources said Thursday. A man believed to be an accomplice was witnessed near the shooting site, and a suspicious vehicle was also seen there, the sources said.” – Kyodo News
• “The Nagasaki Municipal Election Administration Commission has declared that absentee ballots cast for Mayor Itcho Ito, who was shot dead by a yakuza gunman on Tuesday, are invalid, and are denying voters the chance to recast their vote.” -Mainichi Shinbun
• “Tetsuya Shiroo, the gunman who fatally shot Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito, told investigators he killed the mayor after developing a grudge over the Nagasaki municipal government’s handling of his complaints, police said.” -Yomiuri Shinbun