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Colorado Springs Gazette
January 9, 2008
Pg. 1
Man facing murder charge talks of violence in Iraq
By Dennis Huspeni, The Gazette
A Fort Carson soldier told Army investigators he and another soldier routinely shot at Iraqi civilians while on patrol in Baghdad, according to court records filed in a Colorado Springs homicide case.
The U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Command is investigating the alleged war crimes.
Pfc. Bruce Bastien Jr., who faces a first-degree murder charge in the December shooting death of Spc. Kevin Shields, told a Criminal Investigation Command agent “about potential crimes which occurred in Iraq during these soldiers’ deployment there.”
Fort Carson officials referred calls about the investigation to the Criminal Investigation Command headquarters in Virginia. Calls to the Virginia office were not returned Tuesday.
Shields was found dead early Dec. 1 on the sidewalk in the 200 block of South 16th Street near Old Colorado City.
Also charged in the Shields homicide are former soldiers Louis Edward Bressler, 24, of Charlotte, N.C., and Kenneth Eastridge, 24, of Louisville, Ky.
After Bastien was arrested in the Shields investigation, he talked to Fort Carson Special Agent Kelly Jameson on Dec. 10.
“Bastien told S.A. Jameson that he was often on patrol with Kenny Eastridge while stationed in Baghdad. Patrol consisted of a caravan of military vehicles moving through the neighborhood he was stationed in. Mr. Bastien said while he drove, Mr. Eastridge would shoot at Iraqi civilians who happened to be along the street.
“Bastien said that he knows that an Iraqi civilian was struck on at least one occasion,” according to the motion.
The soldiers used stolen AK-47 military rifles when shooting at civilians, Bastien told Jameson.
“The sound of an AK-47 is very distinctive,” the motion states. “So if there were any questions when the shooting was heard, Bastien said they could claim they were taking on hostile fire.”
Fort Carson records show that Shields, Bressler, Eastridge and Bastien served together in Iraq with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. The soldiers were in the same platoon of C Company, 2nd Battalion of the 12th Infantry Regiment. All four came home this spring and summer, months earlier than other soldiers in the unit.
The arrest affidavit in Shields’ killing was unsealed Tuesday.
Shields, an Illinois native, was killed on the night he was celebrating his 24th birthday. He was shot three times, in the neck, face and groin, according to the affidavit. He still had his identification and money in a jacket pocket.
Bastien at first told police he didn’t know what happened to Shields, whom he said they were drinking with at Rum Bay nightclub downtown.
But when investigators confronted him with information they had verified by looking at Shields’ cell phone records, Bastien admitted seeing Bressler and Shields getting into a fight that night.
Shields had found out that the suspects traveled around Colorado Springs with a duffel bag with a Taurus .38-caliber revolver — purchased by Bressler’s wife, Tira — “3 Gerber brand knives, 3 small flashlights, three neck gators, and two pairs of black gloves which Louis and Kenny were going to use for robberies,” the affidavit states.
After seeing Bressler fire five shots at Shields, Bastien helped him go “through the victim’s pockets and took out a few things to make it look like a robbery,” the affidavit states.
Tira Bressler said after the shooting her husband was being “set up.”
“I talked to my husband today (Dec. 6). He said, ‘Why would I harm a good friend from Iraq?’” Tira Bressler told a Gazette reporter.
The men burned their clothes and tossed the revolver off a bridge south of Fillmore Street off I-25. Police later recovered the weapon, according to the affidavit.
While serving search warrants on the home where Eastridge and Bressler lived, they found the bag with ski masks and the other items, according to the affidavit. They also found a receipt for Tira Bressler’s purchase of the .38-caliber revolver from a local gun shop.
Bressler and Bastien have also been charged with firstdegree murder in connection with the Aug. 4 shooting death of Pfc. Robert James, whose bullet-riddled body was found in a car in a Lake Avenue parking lot.
Colorado Springs police suspect the trio in other “shootings and a stabbing and aggravated robbery,” according to court documents.
Deputy 4th Judicial District Attorney Robin Chittum filed a motion in Bressler’s case Tuesday to join the cases together under the same judge.
“These are not two separate homicide cases,” the motion states. “The evidence, witnesses, statements and investigations are so interrelated that they cannot be separated.”
Chittum’s motion also contained details about the Aug. 4 James homicide.
James begged for his life before being shot with the same .38 caliber and robbed, Bastien told police.
After they drove him to the Bank at Broadmoor parking lot, they demanded he give them all his money.
“Robert James then gave him cash from his pockets and asked them not to hurt him,” the motion states. “Bastien saw Bressler shoot Robert James. The first shot brought Mr. James to his knees, then other shots followed.”
The men got $45 from James and used it to buy marijuana, “which they smoked later that morning,” according to the motion.
James served with Fort Carson’s 43rd Area Support Group and was also an Iraq veteran.
Bressler and Eastridge were trained by the Army to be infantry riflemen, experts in tactics from camouflage to marksmanship.
Eastridge was wounded in combat and received the Purple Heart and Army Achievement medals, Army records show.
A medic, Bastien’s job in Iraq was to save lives. He had earned the combat medical badge for rendering aid under enemy fire.
The men are due back in court Jan. 25. All three are being held at the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center without bond.
10 accused of abusing Iraqis
Ten Fort Carson soldiers have been accused of killing or abusing Iraqis since the war began in 2003:
Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment -- Charged in October 2005 with murder in death of Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush. A court-martial jury convicted Welshofer on a lesser charge of negligent homicide. He was reprimanded and fined $6,000.
Chief Warrant Officer Jefferson L. Williams, 3rd ACR -- Charged with murder in Mowhoush’s death. Williams was given noncriminal administrative punishment in exchange for testimony against Welshofer.
Spc. Jerry Loper, 3rd ACR -- Charged with murder in Mowhoush’s death. Charge dismissed in exchange for testimony at Welshofer’s trial. Faced discipline at summary courtmartial. It’s unknown what punishment, if any, was ordered.
Sgt. 1st Class William Sommer, 3rd ACR -- Charged with murder in Mowhoush’s death. Charge dropped, given administrative punishment.
Staff Sgt. Shane G. Werst, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team -- Charged in November 2004 with killing Naser Ismael, Iraqi prisoner taken into custody during a house-to-house search in Balad, north of Baghdad. Acquitted by Fort Hood, Texas, courtmartial jury.
Capt. Shawn L. Martin, 3rd ACR -- Charged in October 2004 with eight counts of assault for allegedly abusing Iraqis and one of his own soldiers in series of incidents in Rutbah, Iraq. Court-martial jury convicted Martin of two assault counts, sentenced him to 45 days in jail and fined him $12,000.
1st Lt. Jack Saville, 3rd HBCT -- Charged with manslaughter in 2004 drowning death of Zaidoun Fadel Hassoun, who the Army said was forced to jump into Tigris River near Samarra. Saville took plea deal and was sentenced to 45 days in jail after agreeing to testify against co-defendant Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Perkins.
Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Perkins, 3rd HBCT -- Charged with manslaughter in Hassoun’s drowning. Fort Hood court-martial jury acquitted Perkins of murder but convicted him of two counts of assault. Sentenced to six months in jail.
Sgt. Reggie Martinez, 3rd HBCT -- Charged with manslaughter in Hassoun’s death. Charges against Martinez were dropped after evidence hearing. Given administrative punishment.
Spc. Terry Bowman, 3rd HBCT -- Charged with assault in Hassoun’s drowning. Charges dropped. Given administrative punishment.
Crimes linked to Carson veterans
Some notable criminal cases involving Iraq war veterans stationed at Fort Carson:
*Former soldier Anthony Marquez, 23, admitted last month he shot and killed a 19-year-old Widefield resident and suspected drug dealer Oct. 22, 2006, during a robbery attempt. Marquez’s public defenders attempted to introduce PTSD as a possible defense but dropped the effort when a judge ruled against them, court records show. According to the plea agreement, Marquez will spend 30 years in prison when he is sentenced in February.
*In November, Pueblo police arrested Spc. Olin “Famous” Ferrier, 22, on suspicion of shooting taxi driver David Chance, 52, on Oct. 30. No charges have been filed.
*Former Pfc. Johnathon Klinker, 22, was sentenced to 40 years in prison in July for killing his 7-weekold daughter, Nicolette. Klinker blamed the baby’s October 2006 death, in part, on “war-related stress.”
*Former Pvt. Timothy Parker of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, was convicted by court martial of manslaughter for beating Spc. Piotr Szczypka to death in a November 2005 fight at an apartment complex near the base. Both men had been drinking before Parker hit Szczypka with a fireplace poker, trial testimony showed. Parker was sentenced to seven years in a military prison.
*Nine days after 2nd Brigade Combat Team Pfc. Stephen S. Sherwood, 35, came home from Iraq in August 2005, he drove to Fort Collins and shot and killed his wife of seven years, Sara E. Sherwood, 30. The soldier, described by his commanders as a hero who fought bravely in Iraq, then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide.
January 9, 2008
Pg. 1
Man facing murder charge talks of violence in Iraq
By Dennis Huspeni, The Gazette
A Fort Carson soldier told Army investigators he and another soldier routinely shot at Iraqi civilians while on patrol in Baghdad, according to court records filed in a Colorado Springs homicide case.
The U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Command is investigating the alleged war crimes.
Pfc. Bruce Bastien Jr., who faces a first-degree murder charge in the December shooting death of Spc. Kevin Shields, told a Criminal Investigation Command agent “about potential crimes which occurred in Iraq during these soldiers’ deployment there.”
Fort Carson officials referred calls about the investigation to the Criminal Investigation Command headquarters in Virginia. Calls to the Virginia office were not returned Tuesday.
Shields was found dead early Dec. 1 on the sidewalk in the 200 block of South 16th Street near Old Colorado City.
Also charged in the Shields homicide are former soldiers Louis Edward Bressler, 24, of Charlotte, N.C., and Kenneth Eastridge, 24, of Louisville, Ky.
After Bastien was arrested in the Shields investigation, he talked to Fort Carson Special Agent Kelly Jameson on Dec. 10.
“Bastien told S.A. Jameson that he was often on patrol with Kenny Eastridge while stationed in Baghdad. Patrol consisted of a caravan of military vehicles moving through the neighborhood he was stationed in. Mr. Bastien said while he drove, Mr. Eastridge would shoot at Iraqi civilians who happened to be along the street.
“Bastien said that he knows that an Iraqi civilian was struck on at least one occasion,” according to the motion.
The soldiers used stolen AK-47 military rifles when shooting at civilians, Bastien told Jameson.
“The sound of an AK-47 is very distinctive,” the motion states. “So if there were any questions when the shooting was heard, Bastien said they could claim they were taking on hostile fire.”
Fort Carson records show that Shields, Bressler, Eastridge and Bastien served together in Iraq with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. The soldiers were in the same platoon of C Company, 2nd Battalion of the 12th Infantry Regiment. All four came home this spring and summer, months earlier than other soldiers in the unit.
The arrest affidavit in Shields’ killing was unsealed Tuesday.
Shields, an Illinois native, was killed on the night he was celebrating his 24th birthday. He was shot three times, in the neck, face and groin, according to the affidavit. He still had his identification and money in a jacket pocket.
Bastien at first told police he didn’t know what happened to Shields, whom he said they were drinking with at Rum Bay nightclub downtown.
But when investigators confronted him with information they had verified by looking at Shields’ cell phone records, Bastien admitted seeing Bressler and Shields getting into a fight that night.
Shields had found out that the suspects traveled around Colorado Springs with a duffel bag with a Taurus .38-caliber revolver — purchased by Bressler’s wife, Tira — “3 Gerber brand knives, 3 small flashlights, three neck gators, and two pairs of black gloves which Louis and Kenny were going to use for robberies,” the affidavit states.
After seeing Bressler fire five shots at Shields, Bastien helped him go “through the victim’s pockets and took out a few things to make it look like a robbery,” the affidavit states.
Tira Bressler said after the shooting her husband was being “set up.”
“I talked to my husband today (Dec. 6). He said, ‘Why would I harm a good friend from Iraq?’” Tira Bressler told a Gazette reporter.
The men burned their clothes and tossed the revolver off a bridge south of Fillmore Street off I-25. Police later recovered the weapon, according to the affidavit.
While serving search warrants on the home where Eastridge and Bressler lived, they found the bag with ski masks and the other items, according to the affidavit. They also found a receipt for Tira Bressler’s purchase of the .38-caliber revolver from a local gun shop.
Bressler and Bastien have also been charged with firstdegree murder in connection with the Aug. 4 shooting death of Pfc. Robert James, whose bullet-riddled body was found in a car in a Lake Avenue parking lot.
Colorado Springs police suspect the trio in other “shootings and a stabbing and aggravated robbery,” according to court documents.
Deputy 4th Judicial District Attorney Robin Chittum filed a motion in Bressler’s case Tuesday to join the cases together under the same judge.
“These are not two separate homicide cases,” the motion states. “The evidence, witnesses, statements and investigations are so interrelated that they cannot be separated.”
Chittum’s motion also contained details about the Aug. 4 James homicide.
James begged for his life before being shot with the same .38 caliber and robbed, Bastien told police.
After they drove him to the Bank at Broadmoor parking lot, they demanded he give them all his money.
“Robert James then gave him cash from his pockets and asked them not to hurt him,” the motion states. “Bastien saw Bressler shoot Robert James. The first shot brought Mr. James to his knees, then other shots followed.”
The men got $45 from James and used it to buy marijuana, “which they smoked later that morning,” according to the motion.
James served with Fort Carson’s 43rd Area Support Group and was also an Iraq veteran.
Bressler and Eastridge were trained by the Army to be infantry riflemen, experts in tactics from camouflage to marksmanship.
Eastridge was wounded in combat and received the Purple Heart and Army Achievement medals, Army records show.
A medic, Bastien’s job in Iraq was to save lives. He had earned the combat medical badge for rendering aid under enemy fire.
The men are due back in court Jan. 25. All three are being held at the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center without bond.
10 accused of abusing Iraqis
Ten Fort Carson soldiers have been accused of killing or abusing Iraqis since the war began in 2003:
Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment -- Charged in October 2005 with murder in death of Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush. A court-martial jury convicted Welshofer on a lesser charge of negligent homicide. He was reprimanded and fined $6,000.
Chief Warrant Officer Jefferson L. Williams, 3rd ACR -- Charged with murder in Mowhoush’s death. Williams was given noncriminal administrative punishment in exchange for testimony against Welshofer.
Spc. Jerry Loper, 3rd ACR -- Charged with murder in Mowhoush’s death. Charge dismissed in exchange for testimony at Welshofer’s trial. Faced discipline at summary courtmartial. It’s unknown what punishment, if any, was ordered.
Sgt. 1st Class William Sommer, 3rd ACR -- Charged with murder in Mowhoush’s death. Charge dropped, given administrative punishment.
Staff Sgt. Shane G. Werst, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team -- Charged in November 2004 with killing Naser Ismael, Iraqi prisoner taken into custody during a house-to-house search in Balad, north of Baghdad. Acquitted by Fort Hood, Texas, courtmartial jury.
Capt. Shawn L. Martin, 3rd ACR -- Charged in October 2004 with eight counts of assault for allegedly abusing Iraqis and one of his own soldiers in series of incidents in Rutbah, Iraq. Court-martial jury convicted Martin of two assault counts, sentenced him to 45 days in jail and fined him $12,000.
1st Lt. Jack Saville, 3rd HBCT -- Charged with manslaughter in 2004 drowning death of Zaidoun Fadel Hassoun, who the Army said was forced to jump into Tigris River near Samarra. Saville took plea deal and was sentenced to 45 days in jail after agreeing to testify against co-defendant Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Perkins.
Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Perkins, 3rd HBCT -- Charged with manslaughter in Hassoun’s drowning. Fort Hood court-martial jury acquitted Perkins of murder but convicted him of two counts of assault. Sentenced to six months in jail.
Sgt. Reggie Martinez, 3rd HBCT -- Charged with manslaughter in Hassoun’s death. Charges against Martinez were dropped after evidence hearing. Given administrative punishment.
Spc. Terry Bowman, 3rd HBCT -- Charged with assault in Hassoun’s drowning. Charges dropped. Given administrative punishment.
Crimes linked to Carson veterans
Some notable criminal cases involving Iraq war veterans stationed at Fort Carson:
*Former soldier Anthony Marquez, 23, admitted last month he shot and killed a 19-year-old Widefield resident and suspected drug dealer Oct. 22, 2006, during a robbery attempt. Marquez’s public defenders attempted to introduce PTSD as a possible defense but dropped the effort when a judge ruled against them, court records show. According to the plea agreement, Marquez will spend 30 years in prison when he is sentenced in February.
*In November, Pueblo police arrested Spc. Olin “Famous” Ferrier, 22, on suspicion of shooting taxi driver David Chance, 52, on Oct. 30. No charges have been filed.
*Former Pfc. Johnathon Klinker, 22, was sentenced to 40 years in prison in July for killing his 7-weekold daughter, Nicolette. Klinker blamed the baby’s October 2006 death, in part, on “war-related stress.”
*Former Pvt. Timothy Parker of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, was convicted by court martial of manslaughter for beating Spc. Piotr Szczypka to death in a November 2005 fight at an apartment complex near the base. Both men had been drinking before Parker hit Szczypka with a fireplace poker, trial testimony showed. Parker was sentenced to seven years in a military prison.
*Nine days after 2nd Brigade Combat Team Pfc. Stephen S. Sherwood, 35, came home from Iraq in August 2005, he drove to Fort Collins and shot and killed his wife of seven years, Sara E. Sherwood, 30. The soldier, described by his commanders as a hero who fought bravely in Iraq, then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide.