The Marine who was fatally shot at Camp Lejeune Wednesday night has been identified as a North Carolina teenager who wanted to follow in the footsteps of his Marine father.
Lance Cpl. Austin Schwenk, 19, was killed in his barracks at a North Carolina military base, according to WCTI12.
Officials are investigating Schwenk’s death as a homicide and are holding a second marine in military police custody on suspicion of involvement in Schwenk’s death.
A Marine suspected of involvement in Schwenk’s death was taken into custody at approximately 10:15 pm following Wednesday’s shooting.
The suspect has not yet been identified.
Schwenk enlisted in the Marines in June 2022 and was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment at the base.
“I chose the Marines because I was raised around the Marines. My dad was a Marine, and he always gave me a reason to look up to him,” Schwenk told the News Herald in May 2022.
“I chose the Marines for the simple fact that they will provide me with the discipline and leadership that I believe I will be able to use later in my life.”
Second Marine in military police custody for suspected involvement in Schwenk’s death.AP
Schwenk was born in Onslow County, where Camp Lejeune is located, but later graduated from high school in Ohio.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) has launched an investigation into the shooting.
The shooting was initially reported as a mass shooting on Wednesday but was quickly confirmed by officials as an isolated incident.
“There was no mass shooting over Camp Lejeune, there was an isolated incident involving two Marines,” 2nd Marine Division spokesman Lt. 1 Olivia Giarrizzo wrote in an emailed statement to the Marine Corps Times Thursday.
Schwenk was attached to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment at the base.Richard Pollina/New York Post
“Our condolences go out to the family and friends of the Marines at this time,” the spokesperson told the outlet.
The killing occurred two days before the base conducted an annual exercise known as Exercise Urgent Response, which “gives the tenant command an opportunity to develop and implement emergency safety procedures,” according to a press release.
In 2021, a Marine assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, was shot and wounded in their barracks at Camp Lejeune.
NCIS later determined that the shooting was accidental.
Camp Lejeune is located about 140 miles southeast of Raleigh and covers about 240 square miles of North Carolina coastline.
It is the home of the II Marine Expeditionary Force and is the branch’s largest base on the east coast.
By Postal Wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
