Camp Pendleton investigates Kuwait shooting that injured Marine

[thedrifter]

Camp Pendleton investigates Kuwait shooting that injured Marine

ASSOCIATED PRESS
1:23 p.m., June 4, 2003

CAMP PENDLETON ? A 22-year-old Marine from Camp Pendleton remained in military custody Wednesday after he allegedly shot and wounded a fellow Marine last week as their unit prepared to return home from Kuwait, according to a news report.

Marine Corps officials are investigating the May 25 shooting of Cpl. Steven Eichenberger, a vehicle crewman with the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion at Camp Pendleton, 40 miles north of San Diego, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Eichenberger, who was shot in the left side of the neck, was recovering at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland, Marine Capt. Lara Bennett, a base spokeswoman, said Wednesday.

Cpl. Jose Miergrimado, 22, with the battalion's Charlie Company, was taken into custody May 27 at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, according to the Union-Tribune.

Witnesses told the newspaper that the two men got into a confrontation, allegedly over a dirty sleeping bag and keys to an armored vehicle during a football game at Camp Grizzly, a Marine base in northern Kuwait.

Miergrimado allegedly went into his tent, loaded a round into his M-16 rifle and returned to the field. There he shot Eichenberger at close range before Marines tackled him.

Miergrimado remained in the Camp Pendleton brig. No charges have been filed against him, a base spokesman said.

The two Marines, who are single, enlisted on the same day in August 2000. Both joined the battalion on Feb. 22, 2001, base officials said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...eshooting.html


Sempers,

Roger