Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated Friday on a street in western Japan by a gunman who opened fire on him from behind as he delivered a campaign speech — an attack that stunned the nation that has some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere.

The 67-year-old Abe, who was Japan’s longest-serving leader when he resigned in 2020, collapsed bleeding and was airlifted to a nearby hospital in Nara, although he was not breathing and his heart had stopped. He was later pronounced dead after receiving massive blood transfusions, officials said.

Nara Medical University emergency department chief Hidetada Fukushima said Abe suffered major damage to his heart, along with two neck wounds that damaged an artery. He never regained his vital signs, Fukushima said.

Prefectural police in Nara arrested the suspected gunman at the scene of the attack and identified him as Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, a former member of Japan’s navy. Broadcaster NHK reported that he said he wanted to kill Abe because he had complaints about him unrelated to politics.

Republican state senators outvoted impassioned Democratic opposition late Thursday to advance a proposal to add language to the Pennsylvania Constitution stating explicitly that the document does not guarantee any rights relating to abortion or public funding of abortions.

The chamber’s Rules Committee teed up the package of proposed amendments that would also require voters to show ID at polling places and have gubernatorial candidates choose their own running mates. A vote of the full Senate could occur Friday.

The Democratic floor leader, Sen. Jay Costa of Allegheny County, said he saw the abortion bill as “designed to prevent abortions in this commonwealth” while the sponsor, Republican Sen. Judy Ward of Blair, said it would simply give the Legislature power to determine abortion law.

The proposal was tacked onto a package of constitutional amendments in a bill the state House approved in December. Other amendments would let lawmakers disapprove regulations without facing a governor’s veto and have the General Assembly set up a system for the auditor general to conduct election audits.