Photo/Illutration A former Self-Defense Forces member offers a prayer on June 21 near the site where two SDF members were killed and another injured a week ago. (Noboru Inoue)

GIFU—The Ground Self-Defense Force cadet accused of killing two officers and injuring a third has clammed up after explaining that he planned the shooting to make off with weapons, investigative sources said.

The cadet, 18, said he decided to go ahead with his shooting plan when he was on a bus taking him and other cadets from the GSDF Camp Moriyama in Nagoya to the Hino basic firing range on June 14, the sources said.

He previously said he had planned the shooting as a way to remove guns and bullets from the firing range.

The cadet, who was arrested on suspicion of murder, is no longer responding to questions from police, the sources said.

Police have no idea what the cadet intended to do with the gun and bullets if he had managed to escape from a building filled with armed SDF members.

Instead, he was wrestled to the ground by other members after the shooting and turned over to Gifu prefectural police.

Investigative sources said the June 14 live-firing exercise involved cadets shooting while prone and in a crouching position. But the sources said the arrested cadet made moves while approaching the firing range of shooting from a standing position, something not in that day’s exercise plan.

Such moves may have indicated the cadet was preparing to go ahead with his plan, they added.

The exercise began at 9 a.m.

The cadet received bullets, which he loaded into the magazine. After he attached the magazine to the rifle, he shouted, “No one move!”

Sgt. Kosuke Yashiro, 25, who stood in front of the cadet and tried to stop him was shot in the abdomen.

The cadet turned around and approached the area where ammunition was placed and fired two shots into the chest of Master Sgt. Yasuchika Kikumatsu, 52, and one in the left thigh of Sgt. Yusuke Hara, 25.

Sources said Yashiro and Kikumatsu were killed instantly because the shots were fired at close range. Hara suffered serious injuries.

The officer in charge of the firing exercise and two others subdued the cadet, but not before he fired another three or four shots into the wall.

Less than a minute ensued between the cadet’s initial shout and when he was wrestled to the ground.

Although the cadet said he shot Yashiro because he tried to stop his movements, the suspect said he had no intention of killing him, the sources said.

As for the other two victims, the cadet did not know their names but recognized them as the ones who handed out bullets at the firing range, the sources said.

The cadet, who joined the SDF in April, reportedly told police he shot the two because he wanted to get his hands on more bullets.

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