A 29-year-old police sergeant died after apparently shooting himself in the head while in the toilet at Ushiku Police Station in Ibaraki Prefecture, on Wednesday.

The officer was found in the toilet on the fifth floor of the police station at around 10 a.m., Sankei Shimbun reported. His handgun was on the floor of the cubicle in which he was found.

Police said he arrived for work as usual on Wednesday morning but failed to show up at the meeting place for his scheduled patrol.

Although a suicide note was recovered from his locker, an Ibaraki Prefectural Police spokesperson declined to reveal its content.