Soldier kills at least 4 in clinic shooting - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Soldier kills at least 4 in clinic shooting

An American soldier got into a verbal altercation with staff at a combat stress clinic on Camp Liberty, Iraq, returned to the clinic and shot five people Monday, killing at least four soldiers, said an Army official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The soldier, whose identity had not been released Monday evening, was in custody, officials said.

The Associated Press reported late Monday that the accused shooter was a sergeant.

The shooting occurred at Camp Liberty, a large U.S. base on the western edge of Baghdad near the city’s international airport.

According to the Army official, details of the incident continue to emerge as investigators continue their work, but preliminary reports show the soldier was was being escorted to the clinic, for reasons not yet explained. Once inside, he got into a verbal altercation with the staff and was asked to leave. The soldier and his escort got back into their vehicle and began to drive away, according to the Army official.

At some point during the drive, the soldier got control of his escort’s weapon and ordered the escort out of the vehicle, the Army official said. The soldier then drove back to the clinic, walked in and began shooting, the official said.

Army reports show five people were shot; four of them, all soldiers, were killed. Their identities have yet to be released, pending notification of their families.

The condition of the fifth victim was not available Monday evening.

“Anytime we lose one of our own, it affects us all,” Army spokesman Col. John Robinson said. “Our hearts go out to the families and friends of all the service members involved in this terrible tragedy.”

During a press briefing Monday afternoon at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed his “horror and deep regret” over the shooting, adding that officials are still in the process of gathering information on exactly what happened.

“Such a tragic loss of life at the hands of our own forces is a cause of great and urgent concern,” he said.

When asked if the suspected gunman had been deployed multiple times, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he did not have that information. However, he said, the tragedy occurred while service members were seeking help at the clinic.

“It does speak to me for the need for us to redouble our efforts in terms of dealing with the stress [of combat],” Mullen said. “It also speaks to the issues of multiple deployments [and] increasing dwell time.”

Separately, the military announced Monday that a U.S. soldier was also killed a day earlier when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in Basra province in southern Iraq.

The death toll from the Monday shooting was the highest for U.S. personnel in a single attack since April 10, when a suicide truck driver killed five American soldiers with a blast near a police headquarters in Mosul, in northern Iraq.

In another incident in which a U.S. soldier allegedly killed others, Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich, 39, is accused of gunning down two fellow noncommissioned offices from his unit in September south of Baghdad. Bozicevich’s Article 32 proceeding took place in April at Fort Stewart, Ga., and the case is now pending a decision from the court-martial convening authority, Maj. Gen. Tony Cucolo, commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division. Cucolo will decide if Bozicevich will face a court-martial.

In April 2005, Sgt. Hasan Akbar was sentenced to death for killing two officers in Kuwait just before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

In June 2005, an Army captain and lieutenant were killed when an anti-personnel mine detonated in the window of their room at a U.S. base in Tikrit. New York National Guard Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez was acquitted in the blast.

In addition, Spc. Chris Rolan, a medic, was sentenced to 33 years in prison in 2007 for killing a fellow soldier after a night of heavy drinking in Iraq, and in 2008, Cpl. Timothy Ayers was sentenced to more than two years in prison after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the fatal 2007 shooting of his platoon sergeant in Iraq.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.