Senior Airman Joshua Aragon, 23, was the victim in a shooting at an apartment complex in Cheyenne about four miles from F.E. Warren Air Force Base, the service announced. (U.S. Air Force)
An airman stationed at F.E. Warren Air Force Base was fatally shot when another airman from the intercontinental missile base in Wyoming fired an AK-47 through the wall of an off-base apartment, according to service officials.
Senior Airman Joshua Aragon, 23, was the victim in the 3:30 a.m. shooting Saturday at an apartment complex in Cheyenne about 4 miles from the base, the service announced in a statement. Aragon was a security forces specialist with the 790th Missile Security Forces Squadron, 90th Missile Wing.
He enlisted in the Air Force in April 2022 and had been assigned to F.E. Warren Air Force Base since October 2022, the service said.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Senior Airman Aragon,” Air Force Col. Terry Holmes, the 90th Missile Wing’s commander, said in a statement. “He was a valued member of our defender team, and his passing leaves a tremendous void.”
Cheyenne police charged Airman 1st. Class Jadan Orr, 20, with involuntary manslaughter in Aragon’s death. Orr was being held without bond Thursday in the Laramie County jail. He was expected to make an initial court appearance on Monday, records show.
Police said Orr had been drinking alcohol with others in the off-base apartment when he entered a bedroom with two other individuals and eventually grabbed an AK-47 assault rifle.
Investigators believe Orr “charged it” and pulled the trigger, sending a round through the apartment’s wall into its living room, where it struck Aragon in the torso. Aragon was pronounced dead at the scene after emergency services personnel attended to him, Cheyenne police said.
Orr told investigators that he believed the gun was unloaded and he did not mean to fire a round, according to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, which cited a police report.
Police said the investigation into the incident was ongoing as of Thursday.
Aragon is the second security forces airman at F.E. Warren shot to death in recent weeks. Airman Bradan Lovan, 21, was killed July 20 in an apparent accidental shooting on the base.
Lovan’s death led to an immediate halting of the use of the Sig Sauer-produced M18 pistol among airman in Air Force Global Strike Command and a service-wide order to inspect the safety of the Air Force’s M18 inventory.
Despite initial concerns that Lovan might have been killed by a so-called “uncommanded discharge” of the M18, the Air Force announced last week it had charged another airman with involuntary manslaughter, making false statements and obstruction of justice in Lovan’s death.
The service has yet to publicly name the airman arrested in Lovan’s shooting because of the ongoing nature of the probe, a service official said this week.
