Assassination
On April 17, 2007, while campaigning for re-election for his fourth term, he was shot twice in the back at point-blank range in front of his campaign office outside the Nagasaki train station. Itoh was taken to the Nagasaki University Hospital, where he died early the next morning due to loss of blood. Police arrested Tetsuya Shiroo on suspicion of the murder after he was detained by Itoh's entourage following the shooting. Shiroo was a senior member of the Yamaguchi-gumi, an organized crime group. As for the motive, "Shiroo reportedly clashed with Nagasaki city officials in 2003 after his car was damaged when he drove into a hole at the construction site." There are also rumours that it is related to city construction projects. The Nagasaki District Court sentenced Shiroo to death on May 26, 2008, but the Fukuoka High Court revoked the death sentence.
A new mayoral election was held on April 22, 2007. Makoto Yokoo (橫尾 誠, Yokoo Makoto?), Itoh's son-in-law, and Tomihisa Taue (田上 富久, Taue Tomihisa?), a city official, filed for candidacy. Taue was elected.
Itoh was the second mayor of Nagasaki to be shot; his immediate predecessor Hitoshi Motoshima (本島 等, Motoshima Hitoshi?) was shot in 1990, but survived.
Read more about this topic: Iccho Itoh