Angelenos shocked, saddened at Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe assassination

Angelenos are expressing shock Friday at the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who attended USC and visited Los Angeles as recently as 2015.

"We are appalled shocked and heartbroken," said actor George Takei. "He had served Japan well, but he was out of office now. This person must be a mad man to assassinate someone who should not be in a political arena."

Abe, 67, was shot while campaigning in western Japan. He was Japan's longest-serving prime minister.

"I agree with the people of Japan," said Takei. "Violence will not solve problems. It just begets more madness."

Little Tokyo business owner Brian Kito remembers meeting Abe and his wife when they visited Los Angeles in 2015. He said the prime minister was gracious enough to take a photo with him and his wife.

"I had so much respect for him," Kito said. "We're very proud of the way he conducted himself internationally and here in the United States."

Kito, whose family opened the first mochi store in Los Angeles in 1903, also runs the Little Tokyo Visitors Center. He said he still has family in Japan, and knows exactly how they must feel today.

"I was alive when President Kennedy was assassinated and it came to mind, and it's probably very similar to what it is in Japan currently," he said.

On the edge of Little Tokyo, the officials from Japanese American National Museum were swift to express condolences for Japan and to the Abe family.

"We are shocked and saddened by this horrific and violent act and the passing of the former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe," the museum said in a statement. "Prime Minister Abe was the longest-serving and most prominent political leader in Japan, with strong ties to the United States. It was JANM's great honor to welcome Prime Minister Abe during his official state visit in 2015, where he acknowledged the special relationship and historic ties between Japan and the Japanese American community."

USC President Carol Folt tweeted a statement from USC, where Abe studied a few semesters during the lates 70s.

"The Trojan Family is deeply saddened and shocked by the horrific shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a proud Trojan who last visited USC in 2015," Folt said in her tweet. "Prime Minister Abe spent three semesters at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy from 1978-79, studying English and taking courses in political science, international relations, and history."

This is a developing news story. More information will be added as it comes in.