STORY: Japan’s defense ministry says police arrested an 18-year-old soldier after he shot and killed two instructors and injured a third at a military firing range on Wednesday.
The chief of staff of Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Forces said it was the first fatal shooting at one of their firing ranges since the 1980s.
“During a live-fire training for new members, one Self-Defense Force member candidate fired a gun towards three officers.
“The assailant is a Self-Defense Force member candidate who joined the service in April this year. The victims are officers who train new members, so they were conducting the live-fire training.”
Shootings are extremely rare in Japan.
Gun ownership is tightly regulated and anyone seeking to own a gun must go through rigorous background checks.
The National Police Agency only reported four gun deaths last year.
Among them was former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, however he was killed with a homemade gun.
The suspect in that case, himself a former member of the Maritime Self Defense Forces, has yet to be tried.
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