3 injured in shooting at Japan army training range; teen suspect arrested

TOKYO - A teenage member of the Japan Self-Defence Force (SDF) was arrested on Wednesday (June 14) on suspicion of attempted murder after a shooting incident that resulted in three people being injured, two of them critically, said Japanese media.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the incident happened at about 9am 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 cardiopulmonary arrest after the shooting, said NTV. Public broadcaster NHK said there were no reports of civilian casualties.

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

An earlier NHK report said there may have been three fatalities, but that report was later taken off the broadcaster's website.

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.