Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has died, according to Japan's national broadcaster.
Abe, 67, who remains Japan's longest serving prime minister, was shot while giving a campaign speech.
The suspected attacker - reported to be a man in his 40s - was tackled at the scene and arrested.
Shinzo Abe died in the hospital where he was receiving medical treatment, near to the attack in Nara, a senior Liberal Democratic Party official has said, public broadcaster NHK reports.
The doctor at the press conference says Shinzo Abe bled to death after his team tried for hours to save his life.
The doctor says no vital signs were detected by the time the former prime minister was transferred to the hospital.
Abe fell into a cardiopulmonary arrest state at the scene of the crime, the doctor says.
He also says a bullet caused wounds in Abe's shoulder.
Abe was shot twice, with the second shot hitting him in the back, causing him to fall to the ground.
Ex-Tokyo governor Yoichi Masuzoe said in a tweet that the 67-year-old Mr Abe was in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest.
The term is often used before a death is officially confirmed in Japan.
Abe stepped down then after weeks of speculation, revealing that he had suffered a relapse of ulcerative colitis - the intestinal disease had led to his resignation in 2007.
But as the son of former foreign minister Shintaro Abe, and grandson of former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, Abe belonged to political royalty and was still considered a powerful figure in Japanese politics.
He was known for his hawkish foreign policy and a signature economic strategy that popularly came to be known as "Abenomics".
