Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was unconscious and unresponsive after being shot in the chest during a campaign event on Friday.

The 67-year-old, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, held the role from 2006 to 2007 and returned to the position from 2012 to 2020. 

He stepped down in 2020 citing health reasons and later revealed that he had suffered a relapse of ulcerative colitis, an intestinal disease.

Abe is known for his Abenomics economic policy and attempts to revise the restrictions on the country's military in its postwar constitution.

He was succeeded as prime minister by his close party ally Yoshihide Suga, who was later replaced by Fumio Kishida.