Posted on 11/30/2005 8:02:22 AM PST by SmithL
Fort Campbell, Ky -- A soldier accused of opening fire on fellow soldiers six weeks ago has been charged with attempted murder, Fort Campbell officials said Wednesday. No one was wounded.
Pvt. Nicholas D. Mikel, 21, also was charged with attempted rape, stemming from an incident the day before the Oct. 13 shooting, the Army post said in a statement.
Mikel was accused of firing five shots into the group of soldiers who were doing early-morning physical training. There were no injuries.
Fort Campbell officials said at the time that the suspect, arrested shortly after the shooting, had a handgun that was not issued by the military.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
ping-here it is.
Doesn't sound like terrorism - sounds like a crime motivated by personal grudges, not some ideology.
Just wait till the Threat Matrixers discover that this guy's brother-in-law has a fishing buddy that has a son that goes to a school that has a teacher that has an uncle who once walked within 2 miles of a Mosque once.
works for me.... blow up the mosque.
Just some background for those who might have missed it.
October 13, 2005
Campbell soldier fires into PT formation
By Gina Cavallaro
Times staff writer
A soldier reportedly dressed in Ninja-like attire fired live rounds from a .357-caliber Magnum into a physical training formation at Fort Campbell, Ky., this morning.
No one was hurt in the 7 a.m. shooting and the soldier, who has not yet been identified, was arrested by military police.
“Military police apprehended the solider and brought him into custody. He did have a weapon, it was a handgun, nonmilitary issue,” said Fort Campbell spokeswoman Cathy Gramling.
Charges have not been filed and Fort Campbell officials declined further comment, but according to a soldier in the area at the time of the alleged attack, the suspect fired three shots at a group of soldiers in formation for PT in front of the division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team headquarters.
After firing the first volley of shots, he ran behind the headquarters building of 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry, where several troops were at work, said the soldier, who spoke on the condition his identity not be revealed.
He said that when a soldier from the 2-327 opened a back door, the armed soldier allegedly fired another round of shots, which ricocheted off the ground and the building, then continued running.
After evading soldiers at the 2-327, the gunman allegedly ducked into a building of the 3rd Battalion, 327th Infantry, shed a tactical holster, black jacket and balaclava mask, then walked out of the building and allegedly pointed to an area away from the building and told MPs at the site he had seen a man running in that direction, the soldier said.
The MPs arrested the soldier on the spot and placed him in confinement.
The 101st Airborne Division is in the process of deploying for its second rotation in Iraq and the Thursday shooting harked to a deadly incident two and a half years ago. According to the source, the suspect in Thursday’s shooting is a member of 326th Engineer Battalion, the same unit of former Sgt. Hassan Akbar, who was convicted of a grenade attack that killed two soldiers and wounded 14 others in the 1st BCT. The fragging incident took place March 23, 2003, in Kuwait, hours before the division crossed the berm into Iraq. In April, a jury of soldiers at Fort Bragg, N.C., sentenced him to death.
Almost 10 years ago to the day of Thursday’s incident, Sgt. William Kreutzer opened fire on hundreds of paratroopers in formation at Fort Bragg, killing one injuring 18 others. He was captured by Special Forces soldiers performing PT nearby. Kreutzer was convicted and sentenced to death, but the sentence was overturned.
You should be embarassed. It took me about 30 seconds to find this report by AP posted on Oct. 13th.
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - Military police on Thursday arrested a soldier after he fired five shots into a group of fellow soldiers who were doing physical training.
Too bad there wasn't another SSGT Hicks there in this present situation but then again, given the spirit of the times..SSGT Hicks' methods might not have been exactly approved of.
Yes, but did the uncle walk within 10 miles of tracks owned by a railroad company whose train later derailed?
No it isn't, it was reported on this forum extensively.
We had more than one thread on this- and discussed it at length.
My son happened to be one of the group shot at that morning- and I can assure you it was hardly domestic terrorism.
As has been noted on this and other threads- "stuff happens" on military bases- as in the civilian world. It's been happening for years..and always will- sometimes people just lose it. No need to make more of this than it really was!
Update ping!
Few things are better for troop morale than to see a superior officer put his own life directly at risk in order to defend them, and then gloriously triumph over the threat in short order.
If I had been there that day, I would have thought: "I want to learn everything this guy wants to teach me and I want to learn it inside and out, forwards and backwards."
"A soldier reportedly dressed in Ninja-like attire"
There are nuts out there that like to dress up like Ninjas and sneak around at night believe it or not. One of my good friends caught a guy dressed up like a ninja looking in his neighbors window at 3:00 AM. He snuck out and pointed a .45 at the guy and held him for the police. Guy had a crossbow and samurai sword on him at the time. The cops gave my friend a commendation for his actions that night.
I'm far too insensitive to be embarrassed by the likes of that. I actually posted that story under breaking news. My point was, after the initial report of the shooting and arrest, there was virtually NO coverage of the case for almost a month and a half - not even a name. Over the past several weeks, I've corresponded several times with one of the on-scene reporters, and the Army has intentionally kept a very-tight lid on the story.
See my Post 15 for a little better explanation of what I was trying to say. When it was originally reported, it certainly looked like Domestic Terror, or at least a fragging. And the Army did virtually nothing to dispell that notion for several weeks.
WHAT! Then we need to Nuke Mecca!
Public Affairs Office
101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)
Fort Campbell, Kentucky
(270) 798-3025
Release Number 06- 032
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR INFORMATION CONTACT
Cathy Gramling (270) 798-9966
Cathy.gramling@campbell.army.mil
SOLDIER CHARGED IN SHOOTING
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky., November 30, 2005 - A Soldier has been charged in connection with the Oct. 13 shooting here.
Charges were preferred against Pvt. Nicholas D. Mikel, 21, under the Uniform Code of Military Justice alleging the following offenses: one specification of attempted rape under Article 80 of the UCMJ; one charge of failure to obey an order by wrongfully possessing and failing to register a privately owned weapon under Article 92 of the UCMJ in accordance with Fort Campbell Regulation 190-2; one charge of larceny under Article 121 of the UCMJ for the theft of a government laptop computer; 42 specifications of premeditated attempted murder under Article 80 of the UCMJ, and four specifications of attempted murder under Article 80 of the UCMJ.
The rape charge is based on an incident Oct. 12, prior to the shooting.
Mikel is assigned to E Company, 1st Brigade Combat Team (Rear) (Provisional), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).
Under the UCMJ, the Soldier accused of misconduct is presumed innocent until and unless his guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt at a trial by court-martial.
The charges against Mikel have been forwarded to the commander of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) (Rear) (Provisional), who exercises special court-martial convening authority over him. This commander directed a pretrial investigation under Article 32 of the UCMJ.
The Article 32 proceedings began last week on Fort Campbell. They are currently in recess, and scheduled to resume next week.
Article 32 of the UCMJ provides that no charge may be referred to a general court-martial for trial without a thorough and impartial investigation of the matters set forth in the charge. Once appointed, the investigative officer conducts a hearing and receives evidence regarding the matters alleged in the charges and specifications. This process is roughly equivalent to the civilian grand jury, except that unlike most grand jury proceedings, the accused has the right to be present, to cross-examine witnesses called by the government and to call witnesses on his own behalf. The accused may, but is not required to testify at the Article 32 investigation; the same rule regarding testimony of an accused applies at a court-martial. The accused may also waive this pre-trial investigation.
The Army will not speculate on possible future outcomes nor release information regarding the results of the criminal investigation, possible evidence in the case and other similar information.
The incident remains under investigation by Fort Campbell's Criminal Investigations Command.
-end-
MEDIA NOTE: We will not be providing spokespersons for comment at this time. Quotes from this statement may be attributed to the Fort Campbell Public Affairs Office.
btw, Thank you for your service. Go Navy!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.