This week, a young man doing his Swiss military service was killed when a rifle went off. After the incident, which occured at the Bremgarten weapons range in Aargau on Tuesday, the military justice department opened an investigation. On Friday, the department announced the death was probably suicide, reported SRF.
On Tuesday, a shot was fired from an assault rifle in a military vehicle. The shot hit a 22-year-old army member in the head. A helicopter flew the injured man to a hospital but he failed to survive.
Based on the preliminary investigation results, we are currently assuming a suicide, said military media spokesman Florian Menzi. The military justice system has solid evidence that it was a suicide, he said. However, the investigation continues.
The last time a firearms accident occured in the Swiss army was in June 2023 in Gossau, St. Gallen when an unintentionally fired shot injured three people.
In 2022, there were 958 suicides in Switzerland, excluding assisted suicide. 73% of these were men. One reason behind higher male suicide rates around the world is the greater access men often have to lethal weapons.
More on this:
SRF article (in German)
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