Marine held in shooting (Massachusetts)

The Boston Globe ^ | 15 Aug 05 | Adam Jadhav

[Drew68]

Daniel B. Cotnoir, a decorated Marine and military mortician, cracked under post-war stress early Saturday, responding with shotgun fire when someone threw a bottle through a window in his Lawrence home, his attorney said yesterday.

Alerts Cotnoir had already complained to police about a crowd of almost 30 people in the street outside a nearby nightclub and restaurant about 2:45 a.m. Saturday. When someone threw a bottle that shattered his bedroom window, Cotnoir fired ''a warning shot" that hit a 15-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man, said his lawyer, Robert F. Kelley.

''He shot into what he thought was a safe area, but there was some ricochet effects that Mr. Cotnoir never intended," Kelley said. ''It was a military-type response to a threatening situation that was civilian in nature."

(snip)

About 30 people had gathered in the street and parking lot listening to music from their cars, many having just left the nightclub Punto Final, Cumba said.

Some people in the crowd were playfully joshing Cotnoir as he watched from a window above his family's funeral home, Cumba said.

''People were saying hi to him, 'hey, how are you?' Somebody threw something at him," she said.

(snip)

The other alleged victim, identified by the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune as Kelvin Castro of Lowell, could not be reached for comment.

(snip)

Cotnoir was awarded the 2005 Marine of the Year by the Marine Corps Times for his work retrieving remains and belongings of fallen soldiers, more than half of whom were killed in explosions.

(snip)

But Cumba said Cotnoir's past means little.

''I don't think he deserves any of those awards," she said yesterday, reached at home by telephone after her release from the hospital. ''I think he deserves to get locked up. I could have been dead right now."

[ElectricStrawberry]

Already been to W. Texas (no...not California)....and I don't think I'll ever go back there again. Ft. Bliss.....blech!!!