T

he police are struggling to find a motive behind the incident in Blora, Central Java, in which two members of the force’s Mobile Brigade (Brimob) unit were shot to death by a fellow Brimob officer who later shot himself in the head.

Witnesses said that chief Brig. Bambang Tejo, who is believed to have carried out the shooting, was not involved in a fracas with Brig. Budi Wibowo and Brig. Ahmad Supriyanto before he took their lives.

The incident, the most deadly involving a police officer in recent years, took place on Tuesday night when the three Brimob members were assigned to guard an oil exploration facility owned by PT Sarana Gas Trembun 01 in Karangtengah village.

Witnesses said they heard three shots that night, the first two of which happened within a short period of time.

“They did not shoot each other. [Bambang] allegedly used an AK 101 gun, which was found near him, while Budi and Ahmad were unarmed as they left their weapons at the barracks,” Central Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Condro Kirono said on Wednesday.

The officer said he believed a “personal issue” might have triggered Bambang to commit the murder, as witnesses said the three officers never before quarreled.

Condro confirmed that Bambang had a license to hold a weapon, which meant he passed routine psychological tests.

“We have received confirmation from the Brimob unit and the Central Java Police’s psychology unit that they held weapon ownership licenses. They passed psychological tests,” he said.

The police said they would conduct a thorough investigation into the incident to shed light on what triggered Bambang to kill his colleagues.

The force, he said, was also investigating whether the long hours of working at an oil exploration site could have triggered Bambang to snap.

The police force has seen a number of shooting incidents involving its members in recent years.

On June 6, a police officer in Kupang was found in critical condition in his house after apparently shooting himself in the head.

In an incident on April 26 in Bengkulu, a policeman accidentally shot his 14-year-old son after mistaking him for an intruder in his house.

The police were also under fire earlier that month when a police officer in Lubuklinggau, South Sumatra, fired shots at a car carrying a family of eight that tried to escape a routine traffic stop.

A woman was killed and six others, including two children, were injured during the incident.

National Police Commission (Kompolnas) member Poengky Indarti said that a strict series of tests should be taken by officers wishing to hold firearms.

She declined to comment on whether the psychological tests taken by Bambang raised a red flag.

“In the case in Blora, we still can not say anything because the police are still investigating the case and a motive has not yet been found,” she said.

Reza Indragiri Amriel, a forensic lecturer at the Police Staff College (PTIK), said the police should disclose how often they conducted the tests for gun holders. “It was possible that today he’s calm, but the next day he burns out.”

He added that the police should not rule out the weapons effect, a theory that suggests that holding a weapon makes one more prone to violence. “Having a weapon is enough to encourage its owner to use it.”

In 2015, the Indonesian Police Watch (IPW) highlighted the fact that many police officers committed suicide due to personal problems, including love affairs.

That year, First Insp. Budi Riyono, the head of the Cipondoh Police’s traffic unit in Tangerang, killed himself with a 38-calibre revolver at his girlfriend’s house.

Budi, who had a wife, asked his girlfriend to marry him, but she refused. Budi took his own life in front of her. In a separate incident, Maj. Brig. Wahyudi shot himself in the head, also at his girlfriend’s house, in Kalideres, West Jakarta.

IPW coordinator Neta S. Pane said that the reasons behind the suicides mostly had to do with love affairs or issues taking place outside of work.

In January 2014, for instance, First Brig. Guntur from the criminal investigation division of the Sukabumi Police in West Java shot himself with a pistol after fighting with his girlfriend.

In another case in 2014, chief Brig. Rizki Habibi from the Sabhara rapid response unit of the Riau Police killed himself because of relationship problems.