Posted on 04/23/2007 5:54:20 PM PDT by csvset
HAMPTON — A senior airman pleaded guilty Monday to involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a fellow Air Force enlisted man while their security unit was deployed in Iraq last year.
Senior Airman Kyle J. Dalton admitted during a court martial at Langley Air Force Base that he accidently shot and killed Airman 1st Class Carl J. Ware Jr. in their barracks at Camp Bucca, Iraq while playfully pointing a loaded pistol at his bunk mate. Prosecutors dropped murder charged in exchange for the guilty plea.
Dalton faces up to 12 years in prison, a reduction to the rank of airman basic, and loss of pay and benefits for the July 1, 2006 slaying. The judge, Air Force Col. Thomas Cumbie, could sentence Dalton as early as Tuesday .
The men were assigned to the 15th Security Forces Squadron at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. The court martial was held at Langley because of the convenience for family and witnesses, an Air Force spokesman said.
The men were a part of the 886th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron in Iraq, charged with guarding foreign detainees.
Ware, 22, returned from his security detail and walked into his barracks shortly after noon on July 1. Dalton had his 9mm service pistol out and held it at waist level, he testified.
“I was tapping on the trigger,” Dalton told the judge. “It was something the guys had done before...playing with each other.”
Dalton tracked Ware with the gun as the victim crossed the eight-man barracks to his bed, he said. Dalton pulled the slide back and squeezed the trigger, expecting the gun to be empty.
The gun fired, striking Ware in the chest. Dalton and Airman 1st Class Ryan Gasper, who was in the barracks, ran for medical help. Ware probably died within minutes, according to a coroner’s report.
Dalton also admitted to the court that he had earlier aimed a loaded M-4 rifle at Gasper.
Friends remembered Ware as a caring, hard-working airman with a sense of humor. Gasper remained angry at what he considered to be a senseless shooting. “I lost a potential best friend,” he testified.
Ware is survived by his wife, Christine Ware of Glassboro, N.J., and their young children.
WTF? Unbelievable. I suggest the CO of the 15th Security Forces Squadron has a serious problem on his hands if this is a ongoing thing.
The military has a problem if this sort of thing is happening. You’d think that one of the first lessons in the service would be about gun safety...
I don’t believe it. The guilty plea most likely allowed the whole truth to be obfuscated, IMO.
Soldiers tend to play rough in warzones.
How awful.....and How weird.....I have a friend whose brother was killed in Vietnam in a Barracks gun accident....and his last name was “Ware.”
Uh, no "real soldiers" don't play rough. This guy is an assh#le and needed a good beat down the very first time he screwed around with a weapon. Cause from the "everybody does it", it wasn't the first time that weapon safety procedures weren't followed. Not a written thing, just a behind the barracks ass kicking by his senior NCO and then get him transferred to supply or the chow hall.
A##holes "play" with guns, grenades or claymores. It shows a lack of discipline and is probably due to this "cowboy" thinking he was hot sh#t.
He killed his squad mate. Now there may be more to this story, but we'll never know. I've "heard" and maybe even seen some real bad "accidents" that NCIS or Army's CIS have looked at.
Please don't put this off as a "boys will be boys" thing. He took a man's life. Somebody's son, father, brother...it's sad and makes me very angry when a soldiers life is "wasted".
God Rest this man's soul. What a sh#tty way to die.
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