Two soldiers died and a third was injured on Wednesday, June 14, by the shooting of another soldier in Gifu, in central Japan. The 18-year-old alleged perpetrator has been arrested, Japanese authorities said.
“During a live ammunition drill as part of training new recruits, a candidate for the Self-Defense Forces shot three people,” the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force said in a statement. then confirmed the death of two soldiers.
The shooting range where the events took place, an indoor facility spanning more than 65,000 square meters, is run by the Japan Self-Defense Forces, which is the country’s military.
“A member of the Self-Defense Forces opened fire at Hino’s shooting range” around 9 a.m. (2 a.m. Paris time) on Wednesday, government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said earlier. He “shot a gun” with the “intent to kill”, local police told Agence France-Presse (AFP). His victims are a man in his 50s and two other men in their 20s, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
Several notable crimes in recent months
Violent crime is rare in Japan, but several attacks have shocked the country in the past year, including the July 2022 shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during an election campaign meeting. .
Last April, the current prime minister, Fumio Kishida, was the target of an explosive device thrown, also during a campaign event, but escaped unscathed.
Security was tightened following the events, and several thousand police were deployed when Japan hosted the G7 leaders’ summit in Hiroshima last month. Last month, police also arrested a man accused of killing four people, including two police officers, in a stabbing and shooting attack in Nagano, west of Tokyo.