Soldier shoots dead four comrades in Aceh
Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post/Banda Aceh
A middle-ranking Navy officer shot dead four Army personnel in a shooting spree and left another one critically wounded, a military official said on Tuesday.
Lt. Col. Asep Sapari, a military spokesman in troubled province Aceh Nanggroe Darussalam, said that the shooter probably suffered from depression during his military service in Aceh.
The fatal shooting began at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday when several dozen Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel were doing morning exercises in a field in Neusu Jaya military base, Banda Aceh municipality, the capital of Aceh province.
Another version stated that the shooting spree happened at 5 a.m.
The soldiers suddenly heard gunfire coming from a dormitory in the complex of the military base and they quickly encircled the dormitory.
They found five people lying wounded on the floor in a corner of the dormitory.
Led by military police personnel, they arrested First. Lt. Patrik Simorangkir, who shot dead the four Army personnel and wounded another one.
The four were First. Lt. Dedy, First. Sgt. Pandiangan, Chief Sgt. Bambang and Chief. Pvt. Suyatno. The only survivor in the incident was Chief. Pvt. Wawan, who sustained a serious gunshot wound.
Army and the Navy personnel work together in the administrative assistance task force, a task force of the TNI security operations in Aceh. They have been in Aceh between seven to 11 months, to join TNI military operations to quell the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Simorangkir himself had been assigned in Aceh for 11 months, said Asep, as quoted by Antara news agency.
A source at a military hospital in Banda Aceh told The Jakarta Post that the shooter probably suffered from malaria that led to depression.
"We are investigating the incident," said Asep.
The shooting spree was the second after a middle-ranking Army officer also shot dead several fellow TNI personnel and wounded others in the Timika town of Papua province in the 1990s.
Malaria was also blamed for driving the officer to shoot his colleagues.