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Cops: Army vet confesses to shooting student

AUBURN, Ala. — An Iraq war veteran who was given a bad-conduct discharge in 2006 told police he tried to rape an Auburn University student her before he shot her, according to documents read in court Monday as several thousand of her peers gathered for a memorial service.

Suspect Courtney Lockhart, 23, described verbally and in writing how he abducted 18-year-old Lauren Burk from the university, robbed her, drove her around, told her to take her clothes off and shot her with a handgun, according to court documents. He also described driving the car back to campus and setting it on fire.

His attorneys, including Joel Collins, could not be reached for comment after business hours Monday.

At the memorial service, an estimated 6,000 students gathered in the basketball arena to remember Burk, a freshman from Marietta, Ga., who was found on a roadside about 5 miles from the university. Her car was later found ablaze in a campus parking lot.

“Her smile was contagious, all of us know that, and she could brighten a room,” said Alison Penuel, president of the Delta Gamma sorority at Auburn, which Burk joined in August. “She touched all of us in a special way.”

When Penuel began struggling to speak through tears, Auburn President Jay Gogue got up and put his arm around her to help her finish. Sniffles and crying could be heard in the auditorium between speakers.

Lockhart was arrested Friday in Phenix City after a chase. Auburn police said he was linked to the Burk case by a photograph and other evidence that has not been disclosed.

Lockhart served with the Army in Iraq in 2004 and 2005 and was court-martialed, sentenced to confinement and given a bad conduct discharge in December 2006 for charges including assault, military officials have said.