Teen soldier arrested in Japan after allegedly shooting military personnel

INA-  sources


The death toll in a shooting at a Japan army training range has risen to two, the military said on Wednesday, after a recruit earlier opened fire at the facility.

"The death of another person has been confirmed of the three who were shot at," the Ground Self Defence Force said in a brief statement after earlier confirming a first death and two injuries.

An 18-year-old SDF member allegedly injured three other personnel with automatic weapon fire, public broadcaster NHK reported, citing the defence ministry.

The victims were transported to hospital, with two dying of their injuries, NHK said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the incident happened at about 9am on Wednesday at an SDF shooting range in Hino City in the central Japanese prefecture of Gifu.
An SDF spokesperson said eight shots were fired.

Two SDF personnel went into cardio pulmonary arrest after the shooting, said NTV.
Public broadcaster NHK said there were no reports of civilian casualties.
Details about a possible motive were not immediately available. 

The shooter was a teenage SDF member, while the injured included a man in his 50s and two in their 20s, NHK said.

Shootings are extremely rare in Japan, where gun ownership is tightly regulated and anyone seeking to own a gun must go through a rigorous vetting process. 

In July 2022, former prime minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead on the campaign trail by a man who allegedly targeted him over his links to the Unification Church.

And in April, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida escaped unharmed after a man threw an explosive device towards him at a campaign event.
Security has been tightened in the wake of the incidents, particularly around last month's G7 leaders' summit in Hiroshima, which saw thousands of police deployed.

Last month, police also detained a man accused of killing four people, including two police officers, in a knife and gun attack in Nagano west of Tokyo.


source: abc.net