A Thai soldier killed two people and wounded another in a shootout at a military facility in Bangkok on Wednesday, police and army officials said.

Sergeant Major Yongyuth Mungkornkim, a clerk at the Royal Thai Army War College, shot dead three other soldiers around 8:45 a.m. (0145 GMT), the military said in a statement.

The 59-year-old tried to flee the scene but surrendered around 10 a.m., Deputy National Police Spokesperson Kissana Phathanacharoen told reporters.

“The Army would like to extend its condolences to the families of the deceased soldiers and those injured. This incident was a loss for both the families and the organization. It is something that was not expected,” deputy army spokesman Col. Sirichan Nga-thong said in a statement.

“The cause and motivation for the incident is being investigated.”

After the shooting, police and soldiers guarded the gates of the facility, which is part of a large complex of military buildings north of the capital.

The military statement named the victims as Sergeant Major Nopparat Inthasunthorn and Sergeant Major Prakarn Sinsong.

The third soldier, Sergeant Major Yongyuth Panyanuwat, was taken to hospital for treatment, the statement said.

Police are investigating the shooting, spokesman Kissana said, with initial reports saying the weapon used was a 9mm handgun.

While Thailand has a high gun ownership rate, mass shootings are extremely rare.

But in the past year there have been at least two more cases of shooting murders by serving soldiers, according to the Bangkok Post.

And in 2020, in one of the kingdom’s deadliest incidents in years, a soldier shot 29 people and injured dozens more in a 17-hour rampage before being shot dead by commandos.

This mass shooting, which shocked Thailand, was linked to a debt dispute between armed sergeant-major Jakrapanth Thomma and a senior officer, and military top officials scrambled to portray the killer as a renegade soldier.

The military has a powerful influence on many aspects of life in Thailand, from politics to the economy, and has intervened to seize power numerous times over the decades, most recently in 2014.