Rochester police chief says veteran officer Anthony Mazurkiewicz was shot in a 'cowardly ambush' while responding to a call. WHEC's Berkeley Brean reports.

NHK political commentator Masuda Tsuyoshi says incident is sending shockwaves across Japan. Abe is the leader of the largest faction in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and wields great influence.

Japan has close to “zero-tolerance” of gun ownership – an approach that experts say contributes to its extremely low rate of gun crime. There were six reported gun deaths in Japan in 2014, according to the National Police Agency, and the number rarely exceeds 10, in a country of 126 million people. In 2006, just two people were killed in gun attacks.

The 1958 law on the possession of swords and firearms states: “No one shall possess a firearm or firearms or a sword or swords.”

Among the few exceptions are shotguns for hunting and sport. Even then, prospective owners must attend classes and pass written and practical exams. They must then undergo psychological assessments to determine they are fit to own a firearm. Police background checks are exhaustive and even involve questioning the gun owners’ relatives.

Civilian ownership of handguns is banned. The few violations reported in the media usually involve members of the country’s yakuza crime syndicates. According to police, there were 21 arrests for the use of firearms in 2020, with 12 of them gang-related, Nikkei Asia reported.

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Media reports quoted police as saying that the weapon thought to have been used in the attack was homemade. A photograph showed two cylindrical metal parts that appeared to have been heavily bound with black tape lying on the road near the scene of the attack.