By Calvin Palmer
A sergeant in the U.S. Army has been charged with the murder of five of his colleagues at a counseling center on a military base in Baghdad, a U.S. official said today.
Sgt. John M. Russell of the 54th Engineering Battalion based in Bamberg, Germany was charged with five counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault in yesterday’s shooting, Maj. Gen. David Perkins.
Russell, 44, of Sherman, Texas, was taken into custody by military police following the shooting at Camp Liberty near Baghdad’s international airport.
Two of the dead were officers – doctors from the Army and Navy. The others were enlisted personnel seeking treatment at the clinic.
The Pentagon identified one of the officers as Navy Cmdr. Charles Springle, 52, of Wilmington, North Carolina. Names of the other dead have not been released.
About a week ago, concerns about the state of Russell’s mental health led his commanding officer to order his weapon be confiscated and that he should attend counseling.
The chronology of events and how Russell came to acquire a second weapon were still being investigated.
A Pentagon source said the alleged assailant had been escorted to the clinic, but once inside got into an argument with the staff and was asked to leave. After he and his escort drove away, Russell allegedly took control of the escort’s weapon and returned to the clinic.
[Based on reports by the Associated Press and Melbourne Herald Sun.]
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