Man held for Coast Guard deaths
2013-02-16 08:08
-
Us
An old fashioned story by Mary Louisa Molesworth (1836-1921). The author of beloved children's...
Now R150.00
buy now
Anchorage - An Alaska man was arrested on Friday in last
year's shooting deaths at a Coast Guard air station on Kodiak Island that left
two employees dead, the US attorney said.
James Michael Wells of Kodiak is accused in a federal
murder complaint of killing Petty Officer 1st Class James Hopkins and retired chief
Boatswain's Mate Richard Belisle on 12 April.
Another Coast Guard member found the victims shortly
after the two would have arrived for work at the station, which monitors radio
traffic from ships and planes and is home to cutters, helicopters and rescue
swimmers that aid mariners in the Bering Sea and Pacific Ocean.
Their bodies were found in the rigger building, where
antennas are repaired.
FBI agents immediately flew to Kodiak Island from
Anchorage, about 402.32km away, to investigate the case as a double homicide.
Few details were released in the weeks after the deaths.
Wells' arrest came after "an extensive
investigation" led by the FBI and the Coast Guard Investigative Service,
with help from the Alaska State Troopers, US attorney Karen Loeffler said in a
statement.
Wells is expected to appear in court next week in
Anchorage, Loeffler said.
No one was immediately reachable by phone on Friday
evening at the US attorney's office to provide additional details.
Hopkins, 41, was an electronics technician from
Vergennes, Veteran Belisle, 51, was a former chief petty officer who continued
service to the Coast Guard as a civilian employee.
- SAPA
