Soldier Accused of Killing 2 Service Members in Iraq

Defense Department: Victims died of injuries in Fallujah

An Army carry team carries the transfer case containing the remains of Army Pfc. John Carrillo of Stockton, upon arrival at Dover Air Force Base, Del., on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010. (Photo credit: Jose Luis Magana / AP)

September 27, 2010

WASHINGTON — A U.S. soldier is in custody in connection with the shooting deaths of two fellow service members in Iraq, the Stockton Record reported Monday.

Spc. Neftaly Platero is in pre-trial confinement as authorities investigate the deaths of Spc. John Carrillo Jr., 20, of Stockton, Calif., and Pfc. Gebrah P. Noonan, 26, of Watertown, Conn., the newspaper said.

Spc. John Carrillo Jr. and Pfc. Gebrah P. Noonan

Carrillo and Noonan died Friday of injuries suffered a day earlier in Fallujah, Iraq, the Defense Department said in a press release. A third service member was injured.

No further details were released on the shooting.

“Our condolences go out to the families of those service members whose lives were lost. We are saddened by this tragic incident,” said Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan said in a press release, according to the Record.

The victims were assigned to 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.

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Related report on this site

GI Opens Fire on U.S. Troops in Iraq (May 12, 2009)

Pfc. Michael Edward Yates Jr. and his son Kamren in a family photograph.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — September 27, 2009

Bachmann Census Sedition Silence

Acknowledgment: Steve Sack, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

One year ago today, I reported that Rep. Michele Bachmann, speaking at the “How to Take Back America” conference, said that the priorities of Republicans if they retook Congress in 2010 would be to “pass repealer bill after repealer bill,” to prevent the creation of a one-world currency, and to pull the government back from the “36 percent of private business profits” that she claimed it now controlled.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — September 27, 2008

After the Primary Election: Day 18

Two years ago today, on the 18th day after losing my 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, in line with my focus on national security, I reported on a skirmish between Kurdish security forces and Iraqi police in Iraq’s northeastern Diyala province near the disputed Kurdish autonomous region and provided a daily summary of security incidents in Iraq.

Cold war between Baghdad and Kurds turns hot