Politics | 05/12/2009 11:30 am

Sgt. John Russell, Alleged Army Base Shooter, Had Gun Confiscated

Sgt. John Russell had been asked to seek counseling before shootings, and has now been charged with five counts of murder.

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

Army officials have revealed the name of the soldier who allegedly shot five of his comrades yesterday: Sgt. John Russell.

Russell, who was on his third tour of Iraq and had been at a stress clinic in Camp Liberty near Baghdad, reportedly got into a verbal altercation with other soldiers at the clinic, and had to be escorted out. The escort was driving Russell away from the clinic when Russell apparently grabbed his weapon, ordered the escort out, returned to the clinic and opened fire.

Two of his five victims were staff members at the clinic. There is no known motive.

Russell had his weapon taken away earlier in the week after his commanders urged him to seek counseling, a rare move, The Washington Post reports. He has been charged with five counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault.

Addressing the shooting yesterday, military spokesman Col. John Robinson said, "Any time we lose one of our own, it affects us all. Our hearts go out to the families and friends of all the service members involved in this terrible tragedy."

Read more about: Baghdad, Camp Liberty, Iraq, News, Sgt. John Russell, Soldier Shooting

28 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

This is a tragedy for everyone - yes, I include the shooter in that sentiment. The US Army began lowering its standards to fill its ranks as the demand for more boots on the ground swelled. You can bet it also raised its tolerance for issues that would have previously rendered folks unfit to serve in combat (or to even remain in the military). Could it be that this man should never have been sent for a third tour in Iraq? Could it be that what used to be a red flag and cause for removal from a combat zone was ignored for too long in this case because his leaders were forced to overlook it?

By E . on 05/12/2009 1:04 pm

e-mail alert

E., you bring up a lot of good points. I don’t know the specifics regarding the time between the 1st and 2nd, then 2nd and 3rd tours of duty, whether he was able to assimilate well back home, etc. Some do not reintegrate well once they’re home and go back to Iraq. It will be interesting to learn the background here since it will likely show where the deficits were that caused the break. Then we can hopefully move forward to bridge the gaps and prevent something like this from ever happening again.

By Andrea Brandon on 05/12/2009 2:05 pm

e-mail alert

Could it be that he is just an unstable individual….as many in the civilian population are?

By Kelly In Texas on 05/12/2009 5:29 pm

e-mail alert

E, I don’t know what you wrote me in regards to Iraq as the moderator took it off. Our soldiers are under such stress with being deployed constantly, it is no wonder some are having problems.

By Mel Berg on 05/13/2009 5:19 am

e-mail alert

E, I don’t know what is the problem with your post but it is gone again! I think you are right about the Army lowering its standard but with the wars in two countries at the same time maybe they don’t have a choice. This soldier must definitely been under a lot of stress but in an interview with his Dad yesterday it seems more is behind this story…

By Mel Berg on 05/13/2009 8:52 am

e-mail alert

Mel - I agree with you that the soldier must have been under tremendous stress.

As to why my last five posts were inexplicably deleted only that admin person can explain because it makes no sense to me. S/he emailed this explanation:

"Hi E. - 
The comment (and your additional comment on it) was off-topic, nothing
more so please don't take that personally.  The article of the soldier's
deaths isn't about Haliburton stock price or Cheney which appears to be
what you were talking about."

I disagree that the article had nothing to do with Halliburton or Cheney because the article mentions KBR which was a subsidiary of Halliburton. The fifth post which was deleted was posted on Peggy Rometo’s "Star Signs" and was merely an innocuous goodbye and good wishes post to anyone as I intended it to be my last visit and post on wOw and will miss the connection to Ms. Rometo and her followers. Why that post was also deleted I am entirely unsure. I hope you get to read this response before it is deleted as well. Have a beautiful day Mel.

By E . on 05/13/2009 10:38 am

e-mail alert

E, yes I finally got it and hope you don’t give up posting here. Mugsy Peabody said her posts were being removed also, that is not fair as I cannot see her being off subject, I hope you get to read this also as it off subject!!

By Mel Berg on 05/13/2009 11:02 am

e-mail alert

Thank you Mel -

By E . on 05/13/2009 11:07 am

e-mail alert

Our poor soldiers….this is a tragedy, so many who have so many problems even when they come back home. Depression, divorce, I just heard on the news that as many as 300,000 are having problems.

By Mel Berg on 05/12/2009 2:12 pm

e-mail alert

Mel….did I mention that the Dems nixed a plan in Ca. to pay for college for members of the National Guard? Ya…those men and women that are serving domestically as well as Internationally.

Not much support there…

By Kelly In Texas on 05/12/2009 5:36 pm

e-mail alert

I haven’t heard that, please site the source

By Mel Berg on 05/12/2009 6:42 pm

e-mail alert

Yes, it is true. Look it up. The Dems stopped the plan. It was on the news. Just do some research Mel.

By Kelly In Texas on 05/12/2009 7:33 pm

e-mail alert

I ran a search for it but didn’t find anything about dems stopping anything

By Mel Berg on 05/12/2009 9:31 pm

e-mail alert

We seem to forget that war is horrible even if be in self defense. The mind can be fragile and soliders sometimes endure more than they can bear. Some people are mentally stronger and healthier than others.

War is hard on families - Parents become single parents. The soldier is far away and often feels helpless . Strains on marriages and family are sometimes more than they can bear. Killing another person -I am sure haunts soliders.

By starry Nite on 05/12/2009 5:17 pm