Survivor of Baghdad fratricide saw gunman's boots and knew "it's one of our people" [View all]

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/05/07/2588595/soldier-recalls-dash-from-killer.html



A U.S. Army civilian federal police officer patrols the perimeter of the building at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., where the court-martial for U.S. Army Sgt. John Russell began on Monday. Russell has already pleaded guilty to killing five fellow servicemen in Iraq in 2009, and prosecutors are expected to argue that the killings were premeditated.

Survivor of Baghdad fratricide saw gunman's boots and knew "it's one of our people"
ADAM ASHTON; Staff writer
Published: May 7, 2013 at 9:53 p.m. PDT — Updated: May 8, 2013 at 2:55 a.m. PDT

Sgt. Dominic Morales still hears an “evil chuckle” in his nightmares.

He remembers it as the frightening laugh of Sgt. John Russell just before he shot an unarmed soldier in the face inside a Baghdad combat stress clinic four years ago.

The victim “didn’t have a weapon. He was just a sitting duck,” Morales testified Tuesday at Russell’s court-martial at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Russell, 48, has already pleaded guilty to killing a Navy commander and four soldiers at the Camp Liberty combat stress clinic on May 11, 2009. He’s on trial facing a life sentence as he fights the Army’s accusation that he killed the men with premeditation.