Yasunori Morishita, chief of employees, Ground Self-Defense Force, attends a press convention following the taking pictures incident on the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on June 14, 2023. /CFP
Japanese police arrested an 18-year-old soldier on Wednesday after he shot and killed two instructors and injured a 3rd at a army firing vary in central Japan, the nation’s Defense Ministry mentioned.
The incident at about 9 a.m. (24:00 GMT) in Gifu City was the primary such deadly taking pictures at a Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) firing vary since 1984, GSDF Chief of Staff General Yasunori Morishita instructed reporters.
The three instructors, which public broadcaster NHK mentioned included a person in his 50s and two of their 20s, have been taken to a hospital, the place two died, Morishita mentioned.
The alleged shooter, who’s in police custody, joined the GSDF in April, he added.
“We will investigate the cause of the incident to ensure that it doesn’t happen again,” Morishita mentioned at a media briefing.
Shootings are extraordinarily uncommon in Japan, the place gun possession is tightly regulated and anybody in search of to personal a gun should undergo rigorous background checks. Last yr, there have been 4 gun deaths in Japan, based on the National Police Agency.
Among them was former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot and killed with a selfmade gun in July. The suspect, who has but to be tried, had beforehand been a member of the Maritime SDF.
The SDF deaths on Wednesday come after a army helicopter crashed with 10 crew members on board within the sea off an island within the southern prefecture of Okinawa in April.
Source: CGTN