A U.S. sailor being held in connection with last week’s shooting of two others in his unit has not been charged, but the investigation is continuing, a U.S. Naval Base Guam spokesman said Thursday.
One sailor was killed while another was in stable condition after surgery at U.S. Naval Hospital Guam. All three were members of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 74, a Seabee unit deployed from Gulfport, Miss.
Lt. Donnell Evans said the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is conducting its investigation and “as of right now, no formal charges have been filed.” The suspect, who hasn’t been identified, remained in custody in the brig at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.
“Once formal charges are filed, that’s when I can release the name of the sailor in custody,” Evans said. “NCIS is trying to figure out what the facts are in this case as they continue the investigation.”
He said Petty Officer 2nd Class Jared Krutke, 25, of Sheboygan, Wis., was shot and later died following the March 15 incident, which occurred at about 8:20 a.m. at Camp Covington, a military area inside U.S. Naval Base Guam in Santa Rita. The Navy has tentative plans to fly his body back to the United States on Monday.
The wounded sailor’s name also hasn’t been released, “out of privacy (concerns) for that servicemember,” Evans said, adding he could not discuss the nature of his injuries.
Evans declined to provide any more details or circumstances about the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation.
The construction battalion, dispatched to Guam in October, is scheduled to leave in April, the Pacific Daily News reported.
The Seabees provide military construction support to the Navy, Marine Corps and other forces. In times of emergency, the battalion conducts disaster control and recovery operations, the Navy said.
