Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, 67, was assassinated on Friday (July 8) during a campaign speech in western Japan.
In a country where gun control laws are stringent, the attack is the first the country has seen since before World War II. The suspected killer is reported to have said he held a grudge against an organization he believed the premier was connected to, yet police say investigations into the claims are ongoing.
As Statista’s Anna Fleck details below, the stakes can be high for political leaders. Looking back over the past twenty years, a number of leaders have been assassinated either while in office or after having stepped down. In the following chart, we take a look at the presidents and prime ministers who have been killed since 2000, as listed by AP here.
Hellbound and Down 