Fort Carson Ring Linked to G.I. Deaths (crime ring murders)

[Barrett808]

Source: The Gazette

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Two Iraq war veterans from the same Fort Carson platoon were tied to a Colorado Springs crime ring that police said is responsible for killing two Soldiers and other recent violent crimes.

Colorado Springs police say former Soldier Louis Bressler and Pfc. Bruce Bastien Jr. are the prime suspects in the Aug. 4 killing of Pfc. Robert James, 23, of the 43rd Area Support Group, whose bullet-riddled body was found in a car in a Lake Avenue bank parking lot.

Bressler, 24, and Bastien, 21, are in jail in connection with death of Spc. Kevin Shields of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, whose body was found Dec. 1 on the sidewalk in the 200 block of South 16th Street near Old Colorado City after he was shot to death. He had been out celebrating his 24th birthday.

Police say a third jailed suspect, 24-year-old former Fort Carson Soldier Kenneth Eastridge, is tied to the Shields killing and other crimes, but hasn't been charged in James' death.

Police Lt. Skip Arms said police began to gather evidence of the crime ring after Shields' death. He said they have linked the three Iraq combat veterans to "other attempted murder and violent felony crimes that have occurred during the last several months."

Read more: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,159742,00.html

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. obviously the other soldiers did not pray hard enough

for their souls.

[rodeodance]

2. my gawd.

[rodeodance]

3. look at the crime reported with this:

Commanders at the post have said war-related stress is possibly responsible for a sharp increase in crime on the post since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The number of Soldiers going AWOL for a month or more went from 22 in 2003 to 110 last year. Domestic violence reports rose from 21 in 2003 to 79 last year, and theft reports jumped from 68 to 179.

Joseph Weddington served in the company with Bressler and Shields on its previous deployment to Iraq. He said when the brigade reached Fort Carson in August 2005 after a year in Iraq, discipline broke down.

"A lot of guys started using drugs," said the Birmingham, Ala., resident who left the Army last year.

He said Bressler and others maintained their military bearing.

[defendandprotect]

5. And domestic violence is always a problem at the bases . . .

[madeline_con]

4. I wonder what they knew. n/t