Japanese media reports the mayor of the southwestern city of Nagasaki has died after being shot late Tuesday in front of a train station.
Kyodo news agency says Mayor Itcho Ito died early Wednesday at a hospital where he had undergone emergency surgery. He had been shot twice late Tuesday in front of the Nagasaki train station.
The news agency says police arrested the alleged gunman, Tetsuya Shiroo at the scene. It says the man admitted to shooting Mayor Ito and said he had trouble with the city office over public works biddings.
The news agency says the man is linked to a gang affiliated with Japan's largest organized crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi.
Ito was seeking a fourth term in Sunday's mayoral election in the city.
Ito's predecessor as mayor also was shot.
In 1990, a member of an extreme right group shot and seriously wounded then-Mayor Hitoshi Motoshima after he said he believed that Japan's emperor was partially responsible for World War II.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
