The
three instructors, which public broadcaster NHK said included a
man in his 50s and two in their 20s, were taken to hospital
where two died, Morishita said.
The alleged shooter, who is 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 said at a media briefing.
Shootings are extremely rare in Japan, where gun ownership is
tightly regulated, and anyone seeking to own a gun must go
through rigorous background checks. Last year there were four
gun deaths in Japan, according to the National Police Agency.
Among them was former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot
and killed with a homemade gun in July. The suspect, who has yet
to be tried, had previously been a member of the Maritime SDF.
The SDF deaths on Wednesday come after a military helicopter
crashed with 10 crew members on board in the sea off an island
in the southern prefecture of Okinawa in April.
(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama, Tim Kelly, and Rocky Swift;
Editing by Chang-Ran Kim, Christian Schmollinger and Michael
Perry)
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