A police officer was found dead this morning on the grounds of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's residence in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, in an apparent suicide.
A colleague found the 25-year-old officer, from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's No. 4 riot squad, collapsed and bleeding from the head in a toilet at the west guard post of the Japanese prime minister's residence at around 4:40 a.m.
Authorities found a pistol believed to belong to the officer at the scene. Tokyo police believe he committed suicide.
Security is tight at the west gate of the Japanese Prime Minister's residence in Tokyo on May 5. Photo: Asahi
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's office is in a different building, not near the scene, and he was visiting Singapore after a trip to Africa so was not at the residence.
According to Kojimachi Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, colleagues were near the restroom and heard gunshots before discovering the officer collapsed. He was on guard duty at the time.
Japanese authorities have been put on high alert following a recent attack on Prime Minister Kishida.
Last month, a man threw a smoke bomb at the prime minister while he was giving an election campaign speech. Prime Minister Kishida was not injured, but the fact that the suspect was able to get so close to him with a homemade weapon has raised concerns among many.
The incident occurred less than a year after the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022 in the city of Nara, western Japan.
Vu Hoang (According to Asahi, Reuters, CNN )
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