2 Coasties Dead in Shooting

Our family's hearts go out to the families of these two Coast Guardsmen.

Rest in Peace my brothers.

Semper Paratus
 
Very sad news.

That it happened at a secure military installation is troubling, especially when they say everyone (military + civilian work force) is accounted for.
 
There's "secure" and then there's Coast Guard base "secure". My hope is it was external to CG personnel there. That would make it easier on people in the end. If it's one of their own, that's crushing. All speculation, i'm just saying my hope.
 
"There is someone loose who murdered two people," said FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez, but he said there was no indication other people on the island were in any immediate danger. The Anchorage Daily News reported Gonzales would not say why he thought island residents were not in danger.

Hmm. No one in custody, yet no one else is in danger.

(PS - this thread should be moved to "Academy/Military News" as it has nothing to do with the CGA.
 
I disagree Luigi. The death of 2 Coast Guardsmen has everything to do with the Corps of Cadets at the Academy.
 
I disagree Luigi. The death of 2 Coast Guardsmen has everything to do with the Corps of Cadets at the Academy.

I disagree, at least as far as this forum is concerned.

As stated in the Forum Section Description:
This is a place to ask questions and give answers to general questions for prospective service academy members.

Not saying this isn't important, or tragic, of scary (it is).

But why have a section called Academy/Military News ("Service academy and military news") if not for something like this?

Doesn't matter, it's not being moved anyway.

Just wish they FBI would find the responsible person and charge them.
 
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/12/coast-guard-2-dead-in-shootings-at-alaska-station/

As always we ask you to keep our Coast Guard Brethren in your thoughts and prayers.

Eternal Father Lord of Hosts,
Watch o'er all those who guard our Coasts,
Protect them from the raging seas,
And give them life and light and peace,
And grant them father from thy great throne above,
The shield and shelter of thy love.

I can't believe this could happen in Kodiak. My prayers go out for their families and friends.
 
UPDATE

Kodiak Shooting Investigators Search Home of Victims' Colleague

April 19, 2012|By Ted Land | Channel 2 News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Investigators recently searched a Kodiak Island home belonging to a man who worked alongside the two people killed in last Thursday’s double homicide at a Coast Guard communications station.

The FBI won't confirm that its agents were there, but neighbors say law enforcement agencies blocked access to the property over the weekend and could be seen going in and out of the home in the Bells Flats area.
 
As the FBI keeps a lid on details, it has continued to reach out to the public for help.

5 weeks after Coast Guard homicides, Kodiak knows little of investigation's progress

"There's very little we can say about the investigation," FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez said in the aftermath of the incident, adding that the integrity of the case was at stake.

The FBI has said the community of 6,300 some 250 miles south of Anchorage is not in danger, but has not said why, and residents remain perplexed.

"I think people are pretty confused on what's happening, or what's not happening," said Alf Pryor, an artist and commercial fisherman. "There's not very much information that has been shared, and lots of rumors."

He is not worried about his own safety, he said, but thinks others in Kodiak are.

"If there's no danger to the public, that would seem to indicate there's information out there that they could be sharing," he said.

Officially, for public consumption, there are no suspects or even a "person of interest" named by the FBI.

Unofficially, most everyone in Kodiak knows that a co-worker of the two dead men owns one such blue Honda CR-V, and a white Dodge pickup, another vehicle for which the FBI sought information.

The Kodiak Daily Mirror and KTUU-TV reported that authorities searched the home of the co-worker and his family, located south of the Coast Guard air station. No one in the home responded to questions shouted from outside last week by a KTUU-TV reporter.

The FBI has released no details about the weapon used in the shootings. However, last week agents made another appeal, seeking information from anyone in Alaska who sold, traded or transferred three models of .44 caliber revolvers in the last year.
 
Federal authorities arrested a Kodiak man Friday for allegedly shooting to death two men at a U.S. Coast Guard communications station on the island in April 2012.

Kodiak resident James Michael Wells, 61, is charged with murder in the deaths of Richard Belisle, 51, and James Hopkins, 41, according to a written statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office sent to reporters just before 5:40 p.m. Friday.

Hopkins, a Coast Guard electrician's mate, and Belisle, a retired boatswain's mate and civilian employee, were found dead at the communications station the morning of April 12, 2012. The station, a few miles from the Coast Guard's larger base on Kodiak, monitors and relays radio traffic from distant planes and ships.

About a week after the killings, the FBI asked for help from the public in identifying two vehicles: a white 2002 Dodge Ram pickup and a blue 2001 Honda CRV. The next month, the FBI released a statement saying agents wanted to talk to anyone in Alaska who had sold or otherwise transferred a Smith and Wesson Model 29 or Model 629 or any .44-caliber model of a magnum Taurus.

Kodiak residents told the Associated Press in later interviews that a co-worker of Belisle and Hopkins owned a blue Honda CRV and a white Dodge pickup. The Kodiak Daily Mirror and Anchorage TV station KTUU reported that investigators searched the co-worker's home.

The Coast Guard did not return phone calls seeking comment late Friday.

During the 10-month inquiry, the law enforcement officials released almost no details about how the killings were carried out and did not give any indication as to a possible motive. Few details of the case were known on Friday. Law enforcement officials revealed nothing further than saying Wells was charged and arrested.
 
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