A soldier from the United States is imprisoned in Hawaii charged with the murder of a civilian contractor in Iraq. Spc. Beyshee O. Velez is accused of shooting dead Lucas Vinson.
Vinson, 27, offered a ride to an American soldier who flagged his vehicle down on September 13, following which he was shot three times. He died of his wounds. At the time he was stationed at Contingency Operating Base Speicher near Tikrit and worked for KBR.
Vinson and 31-year-old Velez are both from Louisiana. Velez faces two alternate charges of murder, an assault charge and a charge of fleeing from authority. The maximum sentence he faces at his court martial if convicted is life imprisonment. Details on the shooting are scarce and the military says investigations are ongoing.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!
Share this: 






This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
US soldier charged with murder in shooting of contractor in Iraq