Japan - Nagasaki mayor shot

NHK News (Tokyo) ^ | April 17, 2007

[HAL9000]

The mayor of Nagasaki City, Iccho Ito, has been shot by an unidentified gunman.

No details are yet known about his condition. He was shot near Japan Railway's Nagasaki station on Tuesday evening.

The attacker has reportedly been caught.

[Tax-chick]

Condition of mayor said to be “cardiac and respiratory arrest”.

That would be "no heartbeat and not breathing," which is, like, dead, right?

[george76]

The mayor of the Japanese city of Nagasaki was shot to death in a brazen attack Tuesday by an organized crime chief apparently enraged that the city refused to compensate him after his car was damaged at a public works construction site, police said.

The shooting was rare in a country where handguns are strictly banned ...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18151200/

[DTogo]

Living on a knife edge: A burgeoning culture of knife violence is corroding life in Britain's inner cities.

[Thinkin' Gal]

That would be "no heartbeat and not breathing," which is, like, dead, right?

Heh, I was listening to the English translators (British) speaking over the Japanese newsreaders. It came off as sounding really odd (stoic). They would switch between saying that the hospital was giving out no info on the mayor's condition, to saying matter-of-factly that he was in a condition of "cardiac and respiratory arrest" or that "his heart and lungs had stopped". I mean come on, just say "dead" if you are going to all the trouble of reporting it. I suppose they were just busy translating the Japanese, never mind how not-so-cleverly disguised the wording.

[Tax-chick]

How sad. I’m very sorry he’s dead!

[politicalwit]

Cardiac and respiratory arrest do not necessarily indicate death. Death is defined as no brain activity.

[Al Simmons]

This is a bizarre story. It all happened because the city refused to pay for the damage - in 2003 - to this Yakuza's car due to a hole in the street at a public construction site.

Its like something out of a Kitano film.