A solider at Fort Bragg in North Carolina shot and killed a fellow soldier on Thursday before trying to kill himself. The identies of the two men were not revealed, but both soldiers were members of the 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade. The shooting took place during a routine "safety briefing" being held in an open field as the entire base prepared for a long-four day weekend. No motive has been determined for the shooting, though the shooter is alive and was taken into custody.

Murders on military bases are rare — this is the first shooting at Fort Bragg since 1995 —but the entire U.S. Armed Forces have suffered a disturbing increase in the number of suicides in the last decade. There has been almost one a day this year, killing more troops than have died on actual combat duty in Afghanistan.

Update (9:42 a.m.): NBC News is reporting that the shooter was facing a court-martial, though they did not specify the charge.

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Dashiell Bennett