STUTTGART, Germany — Two Stuttgart-based noncommissioned officers are facing attempted murder charges in connection with a Dec. 30 confrontation with a group of rivals in Heidelberg that included both soldiers and civilians, according to military officials and charging documents.
The two are accused of firing an AK-47 assault rifle at fellow servicemembers and threatening several others, according to the documents.
Sgt. Marius St. Gerard and Sgt. Aubrey Dinkey Bradley II, both supply specialists assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group, traveled from the Stuttgart area to Heidelberg to challenge another soldier to a fight, according to the charge sheets.
The two men have been confined at the military prison in Mannheim since Jan. 1, pending referral to trial, 21st Theater Sustainment Command public affairs officials said Friday.
The Jan. 11 charging documents did not make clear which soldier fired the AK-47 on Dec. 30, and the 21st TSC — the convening authority for the case — did not provide details about what caused the confrontation.
However, the charging statements say that on Dec. 30 Gerard and Bradley placed a call to the unnamed victim, issuing a fight challenge and also asking for directions to the showdown site in Heidelberg, a city 70 miles northwest of Stuttgart.
Upon arrival in the Heidelberg area, Gerard and Bradley confronted at least six people, making threats, firing the AK-47 in the air and firing the weapon at some of the people involved, according to the charging statements.
"You are about to get your whole crew mopped up," one of the accused told the victims, according to the documents.
During the dispute outside a travel agency on Pleikartsforster Strasse, at least two people were punched, according to charging statements. No one was treated for injuries and none of the gunshots hit anyone, according to the 21st TSC public affairs office.
After the confrontation, Bradley and Gerard fled back to Stuttgart, according to the charge sheet. In addition to attempted murder charges, the two men are charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, provoking speech and aggravated assault with a loaded weapon.
Gerard also faces a charge of disobeying the orders of his superior commissioned officer, who on Dec. 12 had ordered Gerard not to drink alcohol until the completion of an Army substance abuse program, court documents state.
