Two soldiers were killed and one wounded in a gun battle at a military firing range in central Japan on Wednesday, the country’s self-defense army said.
«During a live ammunition exercise as part of a new personnel training, a Self Defense Forces trainee shot three people.s», distinguished in a statement from the Ground Self-Defense Force.
The government had previously indicated that three members of the Self-Defense Forces (FAD), the country’s army, had been wounded in a shootout at the Hino firing range. But later the FAD announced the death of two of the victims, while the third remained wounded.
The author of the shots was a member of the FAD who was arrested, added government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno without giving further details. Local police said the shooter was an 18-year-old aspiring to join the military. He was charged with the attempted murder of a 25-year-old soldier, said a police officer who asked not to be named. He added that the suspect «fired a rifle at the victim with the intent to kill.»
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NHK national television reported that the injured man was in his 50s and the two dead were in their 20s. Aerial footage broadcast by NHK showed military and civilians gathered around a military vehicle as police closed nearby roads. A local resident told the network that several emergency vehicles arrived in the area at around 09:30 local time (19:30 Colombian time) but that he had not heard anything before that.
Self Defense Force (JGSDF) personnel fired an automatic rifle at members of their unit during training.
previous incidents
The Hino shooting range is a covered space of more than 65,000 square meters. Violent crime in Japan is highly unusual, but several high-profile incidents have rocked the country in the past year.
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in July 2022, Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated during an election rally by a gunman. In April, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida escaped unharmed after a man threw an explosive device at him at another campaign event. This incident occurred shortly before the G7 summit in Hiroshima, and soon called to intensify security in the country.
Police last month also detained a man accused of killing four people, including two officers, in a knife and gun attack in Nagano, west of Tokyo.
AFP