Marine Lance Cpl. Austin B. Schwenk, 19, was killed in a shooting at Camp Lejeune, N.C., on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023, service officials said. (U.S. Marine Corps)
The Marine killed in a shooting at Camp Lejeune this week was born near the North Carolina base and had enlisted in the Corps during the summer of 2022, service officials said Friday.
Lance Cpl. Austin B. Schwenk, 19, died in the shooting in a barracks late Wednesday in what service officials described as an “isolated incident between two Marines.” Schwenk was an electro-optical ordnance repairer assigned to Camp Lejeune’s 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines, said 1st Lt. Olivia Giarrizzo, a spokeswoman for 2nd Marine Division, which includes Schwenk’s unit.
Giarrizzo declined to provide additional details about the shooting Wednesday night. Marine officials said the suspected shooter, another Marine, was arrested after the shooting that night, but so far Corps officials have declined to name the suspect or provide information about potential charges in the incident.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service, or NCIS, is investigating the shooting, officials said. An NCIS spokesperson declined to comment on the ongoing probe.
“We will continue to assist the investigating agency to the fullest extent possible,” Giarrizzo said Friday.
Marine records show Schwenk enlisted in the Corps in June 2022 and attended boot camp at the Marines’ Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina before joining his unit at Camp Lejeune. He reached the rank of lance corporal in August and had been awarded the National Defense Service Medal, according to his records.
As an electro-optical ordnance repairer, Schwenk was responsible for fixing and maintaining night vision devices and small missiles systems, according to the Marines.
His records show he was born in North Carolina’s Onslow County, which is home to Camp Lejeune. Schwenk graduated from Riverside High School in Painesville, Ohio, in 2022, according to The News-Herald, a local newspaper.
Schwenk told The News-Herald that he chose to enlist in the Marines to follow in the footsteps of his father, who had served in the Corps.
“My father was a Marine, and he’s always given me a reason to look up to him,” Schwenk said, according to a May 2022 story in the newspaper.
He also said: “I chose the Marines for the simple fact that they will give me the discipline and leadership that I believe I will be able to use later in my life.”
dickstein.corey@stripes.com
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