Suspect in DC building shootings out of Marines (AP)

WASHINGTON – The Marines Corps says it has dismissed a reservist charged in a series of pre-dawn shootings at the Pentagon and other military buildings.

The Marines on Tuesday completed the process of separating 22-year-old Yonathan Melaku, a lance corporal, from the Corps. The Corps says Melaku did not contest the proceeding.

The Marines began the process this month after Melaku was charged with grand larceny in an unrelated case.

Melaku was arrested after he was caught trespassing inside Arlington National Cemetery after dark. Police say he had with him bomb-making materials.

The Marines say the shooting charges and Melaku's arrest at the cemetery had no bearing on their decision to kick him out.

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Defense presses ex-officer on bridge shootings (AP)

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and MARY FOSTER, Associated Press Michael Kunzelman And Mary Foster, Associated Press – Wed Jun 29, 8:10 am ET

NEW ORLEANS – A former New Orleans police officer spent a grueling day first walking the prosecution through his versions of the events on a New Orleans bridge after Hurricane Katrina that left two citizens shot dead and four wounded, and then sparring with defense attorneys over his testimony.

Then-Lt. Michael Lohman, the ranking officer on Sept. 4, 2005, when police killed 40-year-old Ronald Madison, a mentally disabled man, and 17-year-old James Brissette, defended his assertion that officers overreacted and then worked to cover up the shooting of unarmed people on the bridge as one defense attorney after another questioned his motives and his memory.

Lohman, who retired last year, is one of five former officers who have pleaded guilty to participating in a cover-up. Now he is a key government witness in the case against Sgts. Robert Gisevius and Kenneth Bowen, Officer Anthony Villavaso, former officer Robert Faulcon and Sgt. Arthur Kaufman.

Remorse and the realization that the government had the truth about what happened on the bridge and the following cover-up prompted him to accept a deal to testify for the prosecution, Lohman testified.

The defense questioned that motivation.

Lohman faces a maximum of five years in prison when he is sentenced, a fact defense attorneys seized on during his cross-examination. Steve London, Kaufman's lawyer, pointed out that Lohman was "looking at 25 to 30 years" before making his deal.

London also questioned Lohman on why he added Kaufman's name to a false report, asking if he intended to make it look as if Kaufman had written it.

"I wasn't trying to make it look like Kaufman wrote that," Lohman said. "We were working on it together. I didn't go off by myself and write this."

Lohman said he went along with the cover up because he did not want anyone to get into trouble, but London implied a different reason Kaufman's name was on the documents.

"You actually hate Sgt. Kaufman, don't you?" London asked.

"No," Lohman responded. "We had disagreements, but I would not say it was a hate relationship."

For the most part, Lohman remained poised during the long day of testimony, answering calmly, frequently addressing the jury directly. An exception was during cross examination by Paul Fleming who represents Faulcon. When asked what he evidently considered a repetitive question, Lohman snapped, "Pay attention, yes," which earned him a dressing down from the judge.

Lohman said the gunfire had stopped by the time he arrived at the bridge. He testified that Bowen told him residents had fired at officers before they shot.

Bowen also allegedly told Lohman that Madison was seen reaching into his waistband before he was shot. No guns were recovered from Madison or Brissette, however.

Lohman said he assigned Kaufman to investigate the shootings but knew the goal of the probe would be to justify the officers' actions, despite his misgivings.

"I felt things had gone wrong on the bridge that day and inappropriate actions had been taken," Lohman said.

Lohman said he and Kaufman discussed a plan to plant a gun. Kaufman allegedly assured him the planted gun couldn't be traced back to police or a crime scene. Prosecutors say Kaufman took a gun from his garage and turned it into the evidence room, trying to pass it off as a gun found at the scene.

Lohman said his commander, Capt. Robert Bardy, asked him general questions about the shootings, but did not press for details and Lohman said he never provided any.

"I guess you could say I was untruthful with him," he said.

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Ex-cop to testify in post-Katrina shootings (AP)

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and MARY FOSTER, Associated Press Michael Kunzelman And Mary Foster, Associated Press – Tue Jun 28, 3:25 am ET

NEW ORLEANS – A day after hearing a woman describe the shootings that cost her an arm and killed a family friend, jurors were expected Tuesday to hear from a former New Orleans police lieutenant who pleaded guilty to helping cover up the deadly shootings of unarmed civilians on the Danziger Bridge in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.

Michael Lohman, a veteran of 21 years with the New Orleans Police Department, has pleaded guilty to participating in an alleged cover up of the shootings that left two people dead and four wounded on Sept. 4, 2005.

Federal prosecutors wrapped up the first day of testimony Monday by putting Susan Bartholomew on the stand. In frequently tearful testimony, she told jurors she felt bullets piercing her body as she huddled with her husband and teenage daughter behind a concrete barrier. She recalled that her daughter, lying on the ground next to her, tried to shield her body from the hail of gunfire.

"I prayed. I just called to the Lord because I didn't know what else to do," Bartholomew said.

Bartholomew said it wasn't until after the shooting stopped that she realized police officers had shot her, leaving her right arm hanging by just a strip of skin. She said the officers approached them as they lay on the bridge, threatened to kill them and yelled at them to hold up their hands.

"Of course I couldn't because my arm was shot off," she said. "I raised the only hand I had."

Opening arguments started Monday with prosecutors painting a picture of out of control police opening fire on unarmed civilians without following proper procedure. Defense attorneys countered with a portrait of stressed, tired, overworked officers reacting to what they thought was an attack on fellow officers.

"They cut loose with assault rifles and shotguns and they did so without ever identifying themselves," Justice Department attorney Bobbi Bernstein said of the officers. "The mistake they made was thinking anyone walking on the Danziger Bridge that day was a criminal."

Police Sgt. Kenneth Bowen, former officer Robert Faulcon, Sgt. Robert Gisevius and Officer Anthony Villavaso are charged in the shootings that killed 17-year-old James Brissette and 40-year-old Ronald Madison, who was severely mentally disabled. The men were indicted last year on federal civil rights charges. Retired Sgt. Arthur Kaufman is charged in the alleged cover-up.

Police are accused of plotting to plant a gun, fabricate witnesses and falsify reports to make the shootings appear justified. Five other former officers already have pleaded guilty to participating in a cover-up. They are cooperating with the government and are expected to testify during the trial, which could last up to eight weeks.

Defense attorneys said their clients had honored their oaths to protect and serve, quickly beginning rescue missions even though they too suffered from the hurricane's destruction. They saw death and suffering, worked in horrifying conditions and heard gunshots so frequently at night they had to stop rescue missions when the sun went down.

Holmes survived, but Brissette died on the east side of the bridge. On the west side, Faulcon allegedly shot Madison in the back with a shotgun as he and his brother, Lance Madison, were fleeing from the gunfire. Ronald Madison was lying on the ground when Bowen walked over and asked a fellow officer, "Is that one of them?" before he repeatedly stomped on the dying man, Bernstein said.

"This was a tragedy for everyone involved, police officers and victims," said attorney Lindsay Larson, who represents Faulcon. "It was a horrible, terrible mistake, but it was not a federal crime."

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Officials: Man linked to DC-area shootings in 2010 (AP)

By MATTHEW BARAKAT and ERIC TUCKER, Associated Press Matthew Barakat And Eric Tucker, Associated Press – Thu Jun 23, 2:55 am ET

WASHINGTON – A Marine reservist who was detained during a security scare near the Pentagon last week has been linked to the shootings last year at the Marine Corps museum in Quantico and several D.C.-area military recruitment stations, officials said Wednesday.

Ballistics evidence appears to link Yonathan Melaku, 22, to the shootings, one official said. The two officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Melaku, of Alexandria, Va., is being held without bail on unrelated larceny charges involving car break-ins that happened after the shootings. He has not been charged in last week's incident or the building shootings.

Melaku, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Ethiopia, was detained Friday after he was spotted carrying a suspicious backpack near the Pentagon containing what initially was feared to be bomb-making material. Authorities later said the suspicious items were not explosive.

Melaku also had a notebook with the words "al-Qaida" and "Taliban Rules" written inside, one of the officials has said. The context of the words was not immediately clear, but another law enforcement official has said Melaku is not believed to have any links to al-Qaida or any other terrorist organization.

He was detained for trespassing after being found after-hours inside Arlington National Cemetery.

The shootings last year, all done with the same gun, did not injure anyone. The Marine Corps museum was targeted twice. Two windows were shot out at the Pentagon, and a Marine Corps recruiting station in Chantilly, Va., outside Washington was also targeted.

At the time, FBI officials suspected that the shooter had some sort of gripe against the Marine Corps.

Peter Carr, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney in the eastern District of Virginia, declined comment except to say that Melaku remains under investigation following last week's incident. FBI spokesman Andrew Ames also declined comment.

Melaku has a status hearing Thursday in Loudoun County, Va., on the grand larceny charges that accuse him in a spate of car break-ins and vandalism in Leesburg. He was arraigned in early June, and released on bail. After the Pentagon scare, more charges were added and he was held without bail.

The shootings started Oct. 17 at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, about 30 miles south of Washington. Days later, the Pentagon was hit. Then, the shooter targeted a Marine Corps recruiting station in Chantilly before again firing on the museum. The fifth shooting was discovered at a Coast Guard recruiting station near a sprawling outlet mall in Woodbridge. The buildings were within 40 miles of each other.

Melaku joined the Marine Corps Reserve in September 2007 and was assigned as a motor vehicle operator to a unit based in Baltimore. He was not deployed overseas.

Spokesman Lt. Col. Francis Piccoli said Wednesday the Marine Corps was in the process of trying to remove him from the service based on the grand larceny charges. Melaku has not tried to contest his removal, Piccoli said.

Melaku's attorney, Robert May, did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday.

___

Barakat reported from McLean, Va. Associated Press writer Adam Goldman also contributed to this report.

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Trial opens for La. officers charged in shootings (AP)

NEW ORLEANS – The first day of jury selection ended Wednesday without anyone seated to hear the case of five current or former New Orleans police officers charged in the deadly shootings of unarmed people on a bridge in Hurricane Katrina's chaotic aftermath.

For more than five hours, U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt and attorneys questioned prospective jurors individually behind closed doors. The jury pool is set to return Thursday for more questioning.

Still, Engelhardt told the jury pool they were making good progress.

"I'm very confident that we will complete this process (Thursday)," he said.

Earlier Wednesday, roughly 70 potential jurors were questioned in open court about their Katrina experiences and their knowledge of the case in which two people were fatally shot and four others wounded after the 2005 storm. The shootings happened on the Danziger Bridge less than a week after levee failures during the storm flooded 80 percent of the city.

When Engelhardt asked the assembled pool whether they had heard anything about the case, almost all of them raised their hands, and about a half dozen raised hands when asked if they had formed an opinion on the officers' guilt or innocence.

During questioning about Katrina, one jury pool member said the Coast Guard rescued him from the city. Several others said they had relatives who had to be rescued.

Five former officers already have pleaded guilty to participating in a cover-up to make it appear that police were justified in the shootings.

Four other officers — Sgts. Kenneth Bowen and Robert Gisevius, officer Anthony Villavaso and former officer Robert Faulcon — were indicted last year on charges stemming from the shootings. Two police investigators — retired Sgts. Arthur Kaufman and Gerard Dugue — were charged in the alleged cover-up.

Dugue will be tried separately. The trial for the other five indicted officers is expected to last up to eight weeks.

Engelhardt read a list of about 170 potential witnesses, including two former police chiefs, Eddie Compass and Warren Riley.

One of the potential witnesses listed by Kaufman's attorney is James Youngman, who was named in a police report as a civilian who witnessed part of the shootings. Prosecutors, however, claim Youngman was an imaginary person Kaufman fabricated as part of the alleged cover-up.

In a court filing Tuesday, prosecutors asked Engelhardt to order Kaufman's attorney to provide identifying information that would allow them to interview Youngman, if he exists. In response, Kaufman's lawyer said his client denies fabricating Youngman but says the government has the burden of proving he doesn't exist.

The case is one of several Justice Department probes of alleged misconduct by New Orleans police officers. Last year, a jury convicted three current or former officers in the death of a 31-year-old man who was shot by a police officer in Katrina's aftermath before another officer burned his body.

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Sole survivor of Yuma-area shootings speaks out (AP)

PHOENIX – It was 5 a.m. on June 2 when Linda Clatone was jarred awake by a knock at the door.

Still wearing pajamas, the 52-year-old school bus driver opened the door and saw a man's silhouette.

"I said, `George?' thinking it was my friend," Clatone says. "Then he shot me, and he shot me again. And he kept shooting."

Clatone was one of the five targets of 73-year-old gunman Carey Hal Dyess that morning. In all, he would kill four people before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide.

Clatone was the sole survivor of the shooting spree that rattled the Yuma area in southwestern Arizona. Dyess targeted his ex-wife Theresa Lorraine Sigurdson, her divorce attorney and others who knew her.

Clatone said Sigurdson was her best friend.

Clatone recounted the terrifying moments of the shooting to The Associated Press from her Phoenix hospital room Friday. Round, red bullet wounds dot her face, neck, upper left chest and left shoulder. She speaks with a hoarse voice because a bullet fragment hit her pharynx, and she periodically uses a tube to suck away excess saliva that she has trouble swallowing.

"I will never forget that bang," Clatone said of the first shot, which hit her left cheek, adding that it was the most pain she has ever experienced.

Clatone said as Dyess kept firing, she fell to the ground and put her arms in front of her face while yelling, "Why? Why?"

Dyess then left, and Clatone was able to reach her cell phone, which was lying on a nearby counter, and call her neighbors, who then called 911. A helicopter then airlifted Clatone to Banner Good Samaritan hospital near downtown Phoenix, where she has been the last two weeks.

The six-hour rampage started around dawn in the small town of Wellton and extended west to Yuma, ending when Dyess pulled his car over and shot himself.

In addition to Sigurdson, 61, Dyess killed her divorce attorney, Jerrold Shelley, and Sigurdson's friends.

Court records show Dyess and Sigurdson went through a bitter divorce, arguing over money and access to their 10-acre property in Wellton that included a house, a guest house and hay fields. The two also made allegations of domestic violence against each other, and each obtained an order of protection against the other.

Dyess was listed in court records as a retiree who had a pension, collected Social Security and made extra money training horses. Sigurdson had been his fifth wife.

Clatone said when Dyess and Sigurdson first moved from Washington to Wellton, she acted as their tour guide of sorts, taking them around town and on a couple trips, including one to Quartzite for a gem show.

She never considered Dyess a friend and steered clear of him after the divorce five years ago, when she said he began to scare Sigurdson.

"During the divorce, she feared him. They were fighting pretty bad and he had a lot of guns around," Clatone said. "But after five years, you kind of forget about that and kind of get on with your life."

She said Sigurdson didn't really speak of Dyess anymore, and in fact, Clatone thought he had moved out of the country.

She can't figure out why he would have shot her.

"I was her friend, but I never interfered or took sides during the divorce," she said. "I still don't understand. I'll probably never know why."

Not only is Clatone struggling with the trauma of being shot multiple times and being the only survivor of a mass shooting, she is struggling with losing Sigurdson and the death of her mother, who succumbed to cancer three days before the shooting.

"I'm just trying to get better," she said. "I'm sure I'm going to need counseling after this."

Right now, she's relying on her two sisters, brother and father for support. Clatone is not married and doesn't have children, unless you count her two dogs, Lucy and Gracie.

As she waited for an ambulance to arrive that morning, thinking she was going to die, Clatone said she asked her neighbors if they would be sure to take care of the dogs.

Dr. Corey Detlefs, one of the Banner Good Samaritan trauma surgeons who have been caring for Clatone, said she's lucky to be alive, especially because two of the bullets hit her neck.

"If either of those bullets had been a centimeter over, they would have hit her carotid artery and she wouldn't have survived," he said. "There would have been six people dead instead of five."

He said with work, Clatone can get 100 percent back to normal and return to the job she loves, driving a school bus for students at Antelope Union High School in Wellton. As far as mentally and emotionally, he said that will be a struggle, too.

"Oftentimes, people feel guilty when they are the one survivor," he said, adding that it's likely something Clatone will have to deal with down the road.

For now, Clatone said she has avoided reading or watching anything about the shooting, or thinking about her best friend too much, and just knows that she's lucky to be alive.

"I know my mama was there that day taking care of me," Clatone said. "Otherwise, I'd be dead."

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