Staff Sgt. Copyright 2023 WHNS. Earlier in the day, park rangers had approached the group to ask them to move their vehicles, which were encroaching on protected sand dunes. Get the Android Weather app from Google Play, 1 hurt in Darlington County shooting Monday night, Met Gala: Tennis star, supermodel reveal pregnancies, Robeson Co. man escapes from Virginia prison Monday, Man linked to killing of NC deputy escapes from jail, Crazy Town singer faces DUI charge in Myrtle Beach, Hartsville man gets 10 years for drug, gun crimes, Coroner: 14-year-old killed in Horry Co. bar shooting, Florence man, FL woman sentenced in pandemic fraud, FMU softball wins Conference Carolinas championship,, 15 student-athletes sign at Carolina Forest High, 4 CCU football players ink professional deals over, NFL players daughter drowns after falling in pool, No. Investigators said they believed that drug use was involved. 'Stop it!' Last May, Rolling Stone was the first to report that drugs specifically, LSD might have played some role in whatever went down that Memorial Day weekend. Fort Bragg paratrooper who died was found unresponsive in barracks room, Army officials say, Fort Bragg soldier killed in accident, 4 others injured, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Anthony later admitted that he didnt have any paperwork for the gun. All Rights Reserved. },false) The medical examiner at Fort Bragg determined that the cause of death was likely homicide. He joined the News13 team in March 2020 after nearly two years at a sister station in Pennsylvania. He was a hippie, Griselda says, into nature and spirituality, a strong believer in womens rights, staunchly supportive of his female friends. But some elements of the account of his disappearance given by the seven soldiers who last saw him alive dont add up. A sergeant with the Cumberland County Homicide Unit investigated the death, said Lt. Sean Swainn, a spokesman for the county sheriffs office. After disappearing during a camping trip, Enrique Roman-Martinez became one of dozens of Fort Bragg soldiers to die recently under unexplained circumstances. A Fort Bragg soldier pleaded guilty on Tuesday to possessing an unregistered short-barrel rifle. "The loss of Mikel to his family, friends, and fellow Paratroopers is a tragedy," Colonel Phillip J Kiniery III, commander 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, said in a statement. He was a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, an airborne infantry division of the United States Army specializing in parachute assault operations. A senior defense official told ABC News in late March 2018 that the shooter was an active-duty member of a Special Missions Unit, known as Delta Force. MEAWW brings you the best content from its global team of Fort Bragg hasnt announced any fatalities since then. An investigation is underway into the death of a 29-year-old 82nd Airborne paratrooper discovered lifeless in his barracks at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, military officials said. The deaths come a week after an airman and a soldier were found dead at Joint Base San Antonio in a separate incident. hitType: 'event', gads_event = event; Michael Zapata, a friend, said in a statement that Smith was the example of what a paratrooper should be and touched the lives of hundreds of other soldiers and paratroopers in the process.. An investigation is underway after a Special Forces soldier fromFort Bragg died after being foundunresponsiveinside a parked car in Fayetteville on Friday, officials said. Rubino's cause of death has not yet been revealed. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), Roenice Todd, a fellow soldier in the battalion, said in a statement. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Her awards include a 2021 Society of Professional Journalists Washington Dateline Award and an Honorable Mention from the Military Reporters and Editors Association for her coverage of crime at Fort Hood. The other person was a veteran who previously served at Fort Bragg, the Army wrote. Why anyone would have wanted Roman-Martinez dead is a complete mystery. Anthony will be sentenced at a later date and faces up to 10 years in prison, according to the release. Though he was airborne-qualified, he was a noncombat support soldier, an HR specialist, who sat in front of a computer all day. Fort Bragg soldier found dead in barracks; mother questions death Lavigne was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Army Special Operations Command, the Army wrote in a press release on Friday. Kelia Horton, 22. They are trying to deter this investigation from a homicidal one to an accidental one, she says, and in my opinion they look ridiculous and incompetent., In November 2021, CID announced that after exhausting hundreds of leads and thousands of hours of investigation, the file had been moved to cold case status.. He had been missing for almost a full week.. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), Two men connected to the special operations community were found dead on an Army post in North Carolina where both had served for years one a soldier in an elite unit and the other a veteran. The rest of his body has not been found. },false) We might be afraid he might have hurt himself, he told the dispatcher. Nineteen months went by with no apparent developments in the case. Rubino had reportedly joined the Army in 2020 and had moved to Fort Bragg in 2021. Military & Crime Editor F.T. Andrew W. Brown, 28, was a Both soldiers served as field artillery firefinder radar operators and were assigned to 2nd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team. Kevin is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. But CIDs press release included a strange statement that seemed to backhandedly push the theory that Roman-Martinez had been decapitated by a boat-propellor strike. Rubino was found unresponsive in his barracks room on Fort Bragg. Rubino, of Oroville, California, joined the U.S. Army in 2020 and arrived at Fort Bragg in 2021, the news release said. hitType: 'event', A soldier pronounced dead at the hospital after being found unresponsive in a parked vehicle on Fort Bragg on Friday was identified as Maj. Eric "Adam" Joshua Diamond, 35, of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Pfc. Investigators said they found the evidence on Anthony's electronic devices. A Fort Bragg soldiers alleged plot to "physically remove" racial minorities from eastern North Carolina was uncovered by military officials. He was assigned to Fort Bragg for nearly all that time, a LinkedIn account showed. Fort Bragg is one of the world's largest military complexes, housing about 57,000 active-duty personnel. Follow Kevin on Twitter and read more of his work here. Forty-one Fort Bragg soldiers took their own lives in 2020 and 2021, making suicide the leading cause of death. The US Army Special Operations Command said Lavigne, ga('ads.send', { Nothing justifies the way they murdered him.. The two men may have been involved in criminal activity, a defense official familiar with the incident told The Washington Post, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter still under investigation. (U.S. Army). } Soldier killed, another detained after altercation at Fort Rucker, Like driving the Batmobile into the future: Air Force uses JLTV in mission for 1st time, Trailblazer: First Marine general to lead Defense Intelligence Agency dies at 64, China denounces US Navy reconnaissance planes trip through Taiwan Strait, Reports of sexual assaults increased in Navy, Air Force and Marines in 2022; Army saw decline, New bill aims to expand mental health care for military families, K-Town Now features the latest news from the Kaiserslautern Military Community. A Fort Bragg soldiers alleged plot to "physically remove" racial minorities from eastern North Carolina was uncovered by military officials. They explained that they searched Anthonys car and found a Glock Like 9mm ghost gun with no serial number in the center council. 0:57. He was an outstanding culinary specialist and an absolute asset to 3rd Group. An Illinois native whos reported for news outlets in Washington, D.C., Arizona, Oregon and California, hes an alumnus of the Defense Language Institute, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Arizona State University. It was raining nonstop, he tells Rolling Stone. from around the world. A 2023 www.fayobserver.com. ga('ads.send', { A representative of the Taliban said the group was checking on Ghani's whereabouts. But Roman-Martinezs death took place amid a surge in drug crime on Fort Bragg, with multiple murders with apparent links to the use or distribution of narcotics on-post. The cause of the accident is currently under investigation, the news release said. As per a recent report, in order to evacuate US embassy personnel from Kabul from a Taliban onslaught threatening to topple the government, about 3,500 from Fort Bragg were being flown from the United States to the Middle East. Not long after that, a parachute rigger in the 7th Special Forces Group named Tiara Vinson allegedly walked up to Kelia Horton, her rival for the affections of a third soldier, and shot her in the face. He served as an infantryman assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team. Officials found white supremacist literature, t-shirts, patches, and several electronic devices. A SPECIAL Forces soldier who was found dead next to an Army vet at Fort Bragg "killed a Green Beret in front of his five-year-old daughter in 2018," the victim's According to court documents, the situation began when Anthony tried to enter Fort Bragg on March 3, 2022, as officers were conducting random vehicle inspections. WILMINGTON, N.C. (WBTW) A Fort Bragg soldier wanted remove racial minorities from several North Carolina counties, including Scotland and Robeson counties, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. An incident report on the sheriffs website lists it as a justifiable homicide, but in response to an email seeking further details, Swainn offered little more information and directed Stars and Stripes to a statement the sheriff issued the day after the shooting, which said no charges had been filed. Whoopi Goldberg interrupts 'The View' live segment, raises her voice and hits co-host, Demi Moore has not left Bruce Willis's side and is doing everything to make his 'last moments happy', 'Liza took a final breath and sighed': Liza Burke, 21, dies 6 weeks after stage 4 cancer diagnosis, Baywatch star Jeremy Jacksons ex-wife Loni Willison spotted looking for food in LA waste, Archie Blake: Boy, 11, mauled by shark while snorkeling just meters away from shore during family trip. About a week after her brother went missing, on May 29, 2020, his severed head washed ashore on Shackleford Banks, not far from the soldiers campsite. FORT BRAGG A senior enlisted paratrooper was found dead Monday at his home on Fort Bragg, according to a statement Tuesday from the 82nd Airborne Our thoughts and prayers are with them all during this difficult time.". Army criminal investigators also continue to investigate the death in late May 2020 of Fort Bragg Specialist Enrique Roman-Martinez, a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, whose dismembered remains were found during a Memorial Day camping trip with fellow soldiers to North Carolina's Outer Banks. Sign up to receive a daily email of today's top military news stories from Stars and Stripes and top news outlets The death certificates }); Only 11 of those deaths were from natural causes. An investigative reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine, Seth Harp, has been looking into this medical anomaly. }); Spc. Meanwhile, Fort Bragg soldiers have been turning up unresponsive in their barracks on a disturbingly regular basis since the beginning of 2020, including Caleb Smither, Terrance Salazar, Jamie Boger, Joshua Diamond, Matthew Disney, Mikel Rubino, Michael Hamilton, and numerous others who have not been named. In other words, the Army cant or wont say how a whole platoons worth of soldiers died at its largest installation, home of the Special Forces, the Airborne Corps, and the Joint Special Operations Command. His awards and decorations include two Bronze Star medals, one with a V device for valor, the Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, two Army Commendation medals, three Army Achievement medals, a Joint Service Achievement Medal and five Army Good Conduct medals. eventAction: 'click_image_ads' 1st Class Anthony Hewitt provided via email. let gads_event; Lavigne had spent about a dozen of his 19 years in the service assigned to Special Forces and USASOC, the command said in a statement Friday. Only 11 of }); Theyre still happening, but the base has gone dark. Back in January 2022, Seth wrote about this for Rolling Stone. And there are few other clues in his killing, which was just one of a massive wave of fatalities at Fort Bragg over the past two years, including repeated instances of fratricidal soldier-on-soldier violence, and literally dozens of deaths for which there is no explanation at all. More than 30 soldiers assigned to the base have died this year, about half by suicide. Officials stated that during a further search of Anthonys vehicle, military officers found two extended magazines, ammunition, Nazi-type patches and an American flag with a Swastika instead of a blue field and stars. The Army identified Master Sgt. Sgt. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. hitType: 'event', Caleb Smither was found dead in his barracks room at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Rick said Lavigne was also in Delta Force. A 29-year old paratrooper was found dead in his barracks at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, military officials said. He had too many plans., Editors picks eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), If youre thinking of altering your workout routine, youre probably looking for new exercises and equipment to help you reach your fitness goals. from around the world. A Rolling Stone magazine investigation published in April found that 44 Fort Bragg soldiers died on or near the base in 2020, including several killed in homicides and at least 21 who died from suicide. When Leshikar came into the home, he and Lavigne had a confrontation that ended with the shooting. eventAction: 'click_adunit' 734. The incident is under investigation, officials said. Patino, who is married to another woman, is being held without bond and is scheduled to make his first court appearance in Cumberland County later today. Staples is a member of the editorial board. William J. Lavigne II, 37, was one of two men found dead Dec. 2, 2020, in a training area on Fort Bragg, N.C., the Army said in a statement. }); Griselda says that her brother was an enthusiastic proponent of hallucinogenic mushrooms, which he believed held the cure for mental illness. Following this search, officials said they searched Anthonys room on Fort Bragg and found a 3D printed FGC-9 rifle with no serial number, a lower receiver, magazines for various firearms and white supremacist literature, t-shirts and patches.