These infamous assassinations shocked the world. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we'll be looking at the most shocking high-profile assassinations that have occurred over the last ten years.
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00:00 Kim Jong-un's brother enters the terminal, unaware that two female assassins are also at the airport.
00:07 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the most shocking high-profile assassinations
00:12 that have occurred over the last 10 years. The country is in shock. The shooter is in custody.
00:17 Fernando Villa-Vicencio. Family, friends, and supporters of assassinated presidential
00:24 candidate Fernando Villa-Vicencio accompanied his hearse to the cemetery, demanding justice.
00:29 From 2021 to 2023, Fernando Villa-Vicencio served as a member of the Ecuadorian National Assembly.
00:36 In May 2023, amid impeachment proceedings against then-President Guillermo Lasso,
00:41 the constitutional measure of muerte cruzada was invoked, prompting fresh general elections.
00:46 Villa-Vicencio soon declared his candidacy for president, running under the Movimiento
00:50 Construye party. Villa-Vicencio was polling fifth amongst the eight presidential candidates.
00:56 On August 9, 2023, just 11 days before the elections, Villa-Vicencio was fatally shot
01:01 during a campaign rally in the capital city of Quito. A shootout ensued between the attackers
01:06 and police officers, resulting in the death of one assailant. Shortly after, a criminal group
01:11 known as Los Lobos claimed responsibility for the attack, but doubts have been raised about
01:16 the authenticity of their claim. Many blamed police forces, whom Villa-Vicencio had accused
01:21 of working for drug mafias, for not providing security despite the numerous death threats
01:26 against him. Idris "Debi" Itno. This was Chad's president, Idris Debi, campaigning last week.
01:32 Provisional election results indicated he'd won a sixth term in office. For over three decades,
01:38 Idris "Debi" Itno served as the president of Chad. Debi initially assumed power in 1990,
01:43 after leading rebel groups to oust then-President Issen Abrey, under whom he previously served as
01:49 commander-in-chief of the army. In April 2021, during his bid for a sixth term, the insurgent
01:55 group Front for Change and Concord in Chad launched an attack in the northern region.
01:59 Debi subsequently traveled to the front lines to support Chadian soldiers fighting the incursion.
02:04 However, he suffered serious injuries during this engagement, and ultimately succumbed to
02:08 them on April 20th, just one day after he was declared the election winner.
02:12 "President Debi has now also died in the fighting, has shocked a nation,
02:16 and made the security situation in the wider Sahel region even more fragile."
02:21 Following his death, a transitional military council assumed control,
02:25 with Debi's son, Mohammad, serving as chairman.
02:27 Jamal Khashoggi
02:29 "For more than two weeks, the Saudis insisted nothing untoward happened in this building."
02:33 On October 2nd, 2018, Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi walked into the
02:39 Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, and never came out alive. For years, Khashoggi had been
02:44 a prominent critic of the Saudi government, and had gone into a self-imposed exile after fleeing
02:49 the country in 2017. Khashoggi had visited the consulate to collect documents for his impending
02:54 marriage when he was killed by agents reportedly acting on the orders of Saudi Crown Prince,
02:59 Mohammad bin Salman. The Saudi government initially denied the murder ever happened,
03:03 but eventually acknowledged it weeks later, although they insisted it was not orchestrated
03:08 by bin Salman. "The Saudi government says 18 people have been arrested and are being investigated."
03:13 Khashoggi's death sparked global outrage, and led to widespread calls for sanctions
03:18 against the Saudi government. "I would prefer that we don't use as retribution
03:22 cancelling $110 billion worth of work." Pavel Adamovich
03:28 "Poles came to mourn the man who led their city for two decades. Pavel Adamovich,
03:34 a husband and father, was one of the country's progressive voices."
03:38 On January 13th, 2019, thousands gathered in the city of Gdańsk for the grand finale of the 27th
03:44 Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, Poland's largest annual charity event. That evening,
03:49 the mayor of Gdańsk, Pavel Adamovich, took to the stage to express his gratitude to donors
03:54 and supporters. Just after he finished his speech, a man named Stefan Wilmont unexpectedly appeared
04:00 on stage and attacked Adamovich with a knife. He then grabbed the microphone and declared that he
04:04 had carried out the attack because he was falsely imprisoned by Adamovich's former party,
04:08 the Civic Platform. "Prosecutors are charging the 27-year-old suspect with murder."
04:13 Adamovich was rushed to the hospital, where he underwent surgery. However,
04:18 he tragically succumbed to his injuries the next day. "Just before his death, Adamovich called
04:23 Gdańsk the most wonderful city in the world. A lasting message to the people he served."
04:30 David Amos "A moment of unity across the political divide.
04:33 Two leaders representing a shocked nation." Sir David Amos was a British Conservative
04:38 Party politician who began serving as a Member of Parliament in 1997. On October 15th, 2021,
04:44 Amos conducted a constituency surgery where he engaged one-on-one with his constituents.
04:49 Among those scheduled to meet with him was 25-year-old Ali Harbi Ali. In the course of
04:54 their conversation, Ali brandished a knife, with which he inflicted severe injuries on the MP.
04:59 Amos died shortly after at the crime scene, despite the efforts of medical personnel.
05:04 "I mean, the community has just been hit sideways by this. It's not just a Member of Parliament,
05:09 not just the local Member of Parliament, but, you know, he really did touch people's lives."
05:14 After police arrived, Ali was taken into custody, where he revealed his affiliation
05:18 with the Islamic State and his long-standing plan to assassinate a British politician.
05:23 "He decided to kill the MP because of his voting record, which included airstrikes on Syria."
05:29 He was eventually convicted of murder and preparing terrorist acts, receiving a life sentence.
05:34 Aristóteles Sandoval
05:36 "This assassination could mark the start of a real season of political violence in Mexico."
05:42 Between 2013 and 2018, Aristóteles Sandoval served as the Governor of the Mexican state
05:48 of Jalisco. His tenure saw the emergence of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel,
05:52 a powerful criminal organization in Mexico.
05:54 "A drug gang that went from relative obscurity to become one of the most powerful in the country."
06:00 On December 18th, 2020, Sandoval was having dinner at a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta
06:05 when he was shot in the bathroom. Although critically injured, the initial shots didn't
06:09 prove fatal. However, when his bodyguards attempted to rush him to the hospital,
06:13 they were ambushed by another group of gunmen who unleashed a second round of bullets.
06:17 Sandoval was killed, while one of his bodyguards sustained severe injuries.
06:21 In April 2022, the Mexican army shot and killed Saúl Alejandro Rincón Godoy,
06:27 whom they alleged orchestrated Sandoval's assassination.
06:30 Andrei Karloff
06:32 "The Russian ambassador to Ankara is heavily injured and taken to hospital."
06:37 On December 19th, 2016, Andrei Karloff, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, was giving a speech
06:42 at an art exhibition when he was fatally shot by Mevlut Mert Altintas, an off-duty Turkish cop.
06:48 The shocking incident occurred before a crowd that included journalists and photographers,
06:53 one of whom captured unsettling pictures of the aftermath.
06:56 "We have seen photographs of the incident, the moment of the incident circulating on
07:01 Turkish media showing the ambassador lying on the ground being shot,
07:04 the gunman standing by his side."
07:06 Karloff's assassination appeared to have been motivated by Altintas' outrage over
07:10 Russian military involvement in the Syrian civil war and the conflict in Aleppo.
07:15 "That's what the gunman said reportedly, as the witnesses suggested."
07:20 Altintas not only killed the ambassador,
07:22 but he also injured several other people present in the hall.
07:25 He was ultimately gunned down by Turkish law enforcement.
07:28 Following the tragedy, the exhibition hall was renamed in the honor of Andrei Karloff.
07:32 Jovenel Moïse
07:34 "Armed gunmen attacking just after 1 a.m. Wednesday,
07:38 leaving behind bullet holes, ski masks, and a growing political crisis."
07:42 The Caribbean nation of Haiti was thrust into turmoil with the shocking assassination of its
07:47 president, Jovenel Moïse, on July 7th, 2021. The incident occurred at Moïse's residence in
07:53 the capital city of Port-au-Prince. Several assailants stormed the house in the early
07:57 hours of the morning, fatally shooting Moïse and critically injuring his wife Martine.
08:01 "Some also report hearing drones overhead and a grenade explode."
08:05 It's believed that Moïse was targeted by corrupt members of Haiti's elite,
08:09 whom he was planning to expose before his death. In the aftermath of the tragedy,
08:13 an international investigation ensued, which implicated a group of foreign mercenaries as
08:18 well as some Haitian individuals in the assassination. The incident exacerbated
08:22 Haiti's existing crises, leaving the country in an even more unstable state.
08:26 "The situation is so bad in the capital, tens of thousands have fled in recent months."
08:31 Kim Jong-nam
08:32 "Kim Jong-un's brother enters the terminal, unaware that two female assassins are also
08:38 at the airport." Kim Jong-nam, the older half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un,
08:43 was initially set to succeed their father. However, he reportedly fell out of favor in
08:47 2001 following an embarrassing incident that led to his arrest in Tokyo. After his half-brother
08:52 assumed leadership, Kim Jong-nam believed an order to have him killed was issued. His suspicions
08:57 seemingly materialized on February 13th, 2017, when he was accosted by two women at a Malaysian
09:03 airport who sprayed him with the deadly VX nerve agent. About 20 minutes later, Kim Jong-nam was
09:13 dead. Upon their arrest, the women argued that they thought they were participating in a prank
09:18 show, a claim apparently supported by CCTV footage. As a result, the murder charges against
09:37 them were dropped. Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get
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09:52 Shinzo Abe
09:55 The assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Democratic
10:03 Party Shinzo Abe stunned many around the world. Abe was the longest-serving Prime Minister in
10:08 Japan's history, leading the nation from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020,
10:14 when he resigned due to health reasons. On July 8th, 2022, Abe was campaigning for his
10:19 party candidates when he was gunned down by Tetsuya Yamagami with a homemade firearm.
10:23 This was particularly shocking in a country where gun violence is uncommon.
10:42 Yamagami was swiftly arrested and admitted to shooting Abe due to the politician's ties with
10:47 the Unification Church, which had reportedly bankrupted his mother. He was charged with
10:52 the murder, as well as for violating Japan's weapon manufacturing law.
10:56 Which of these assassinations shocked you the most? Let us know in the comments below.
11:01 Why did Saudis lie for two and a half weeks before changing their story?
11:06 What do you think?