A Sig Sauer M18 is shot during a tactical leadership course within the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility on Jan. 23, 2025. (U.S. Air Force photo)
The Air Force has charged an airman with making false statements, obstructing justice and involuntary manslaughter in the July 20 shooting death of a security forces airman at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, the service announced Friday.
The suspect was arrested recently as the investigations into the shooting and the safety of the military’s M18 pistols launched in the wake of Airman Brayden Lovan’s death progressed, the Air Force said in a brief statement. The suspect was not named in the statement.
“The investigation in this case is ongoing and further details are not available,” the statement read.
Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees the service’s nuclear capabilities including the intercontinental ballistic missiles at F.E. Warren, ordered a pause in the use of the M18 pistol after Lovan’s death. The concern was the shooting might have been the result of a so-called “uncommanded discharge,” which occurs when a gun fires without the trigger being pulled.
The suspect’s charges indicate investigators believe Lovan’s death was likely the result of a negligent discharge in which the gun’s trigger was accidentally pulled and the gun fired.
Global Strike Command’s pause in the use of the M18 pistol remained in place Friday, a spokesman for the command said. It was not expected to be lifted until after the investigations were completed and provided to Gen. Thomas Bussiere, who leads Air Force Global Strike Command.
Some commanders in Air Force Combat Command — the service’s largest four-star command — also ordered temporary halts of the pistol’s use “as a precautionary measure until airmen undergo refresher training,” that command announced last week.
As of Friday, the Air Force was continuing efforts to inspect all its roughly 125,000 M18 pistols to ensure safety, another Air Force spokesperson said.
The M18 is one of two variants of the Sig Sauer-built P320 handgun made for the U.S. military, along with a larger version -- the M17. The two striker-fired, semiautomatic 9mm pistols replaced the Beretta M9 as the military’s primary handguns in recent years.
But Sig Sauer has been plagued by numerous claims – and more than one dozen lawsuits – that its P320 models, including the M18 and M17, had fired without trigger pulls, injuring individuals including police officers and civilians. Those claims have resulted in dozens of law enforcement agencies – including some federal agencies – barring their officers from carrying P320s on duty. Many civilian shooting ranges have also barred the use of P320 variants at their facilities.
Sig has long insisted its P320 models were safe and incapable of producing “uncommanded” discharges.
The New Hampshire-based company has said it was cooperating into the investigations into the circumstances of Lovan’s death.
“The P320 pistol is one of the safest, most advanced pistols in the world — meeting and exceeding all industry safety standards,” Sig Sauer said in a statement after Lovan’s death. “Its design has been thoroughly tested and validated by the U.S. military and law enforcement agencies at the federal, state and local levels. In addition, the P320 has been rigorously tested, and is currently in use by militaries and law enforcement agencies around the world. … The P320 cannot, under any circumstances, discharge without the trigger first being moved to the rear.”
