UA Marine shoots himself at family home

[thedrifter]

UA Marine shoots himself at family home
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February 13, 2009 - 10:42 AM
LINDELL KAY

Autopsy results confirmed a Camp Lejeune Marine died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Canadian authorities said Friday.

Lance Cpl. Timothy Scott, wanted for abandoning his unit, threatened to kill his mother at her Canadian farmhouse Thursday, but instead turned a gun on himself when confronted by authorities.

Scott, of Norfolk, Va., was assigned to Headquarters Supply Battalion, said Marine spokeswoman Gunnery Sgt. Brenda Varnadore.

"It's believed that the quick response of members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who engaged the man in the driveway may have saved the 59-year-old woman's life," Bridgewater RCMP Sgt. Dean Warr said in a news release.

Warr said dispatchers received two 911 calls that a man was armed with a 9-mm pistol in the driveway of a llama farm on Monk Road in Upper Branch, near Bridgewater in Nova Scotia.

Online property records show Donald C. Scott and Bonnie L. Blasingame-Scott own the llama farm.

When a woman called police at 3 p.m. saying her son was in the driveway with a gun, they were already on their way.

Police found a car stuck at the bottom of the long, steep, iced-over driveway and Scott dressed in black trying to walk up to the house. Police ordered Scott to stop, but he continued out of sight. Then police heard a single gunshot, according to the news release.

Police said they found Scott a few yards from the front door of the farmhouse, dead from a gunshot wound.

Scott's mother was escorted by a female RCMP officer from the farmhouse to a police cruiser and taken to the Lunenburg County RCMP detachment in Cookville, according to a report in the Chronicle Herald in Nova Scotia.

RCMP investigators also confirmed Friday that the 9-mm handgun found at the scene of Scott's death was stolen from Scott's father's house in Norfolk on or about Feb. 10.



Contact crime reporter Lindell Kay at 910-219-8456. Read Lindell's blog at http://onslowcrime.encblogs.com.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marine may have crossed border with gun
Police don’t know why military man snapped
By BEVERLEY WARE South Shore Bureau
Sat. Feb 14 - 5:09 AM

BRIDGEWATER — Police are piecing together Timothy Scott’s last days as they try to find out why the U.S. marine was upset enough to want to kill his mother and whether he brought a gun across the border that had been stolen from his father in Virginia.

Staff Sgt. Mark Furey of Lunenburg County RCMP confirmed Friday afternoon the 22-year-old was a lance corporal in the Marines.

Staff Sgt. Furey said an autopsy carried out Friday morning confirmed Lance Cpl. Scott died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his mother’s llama farm in Upper Branch, about 20 kilometres northwest of Bridgewater. The gun was reportedly a 9-mm, which is standard issue for special forces in the U.S.

The marine killed himself Thursday afternoon just after police, responding to 911 calls, arrived at the farm.

Lance Cpl. Scott was stationed in Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C. Gunnery Sgt. Brenda Varnadore said he had been reported absent from his unit. "He was not in a deserter status." For that, a military member has to be absent without permission for 30 days or more, she said.

"He was on an unauthorized absence," the gunnery sergeant said, meaning his absence was unaccounted for, and he was not where he should have been.

Camp Lejeune is the home of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, which includes a marine division, marine aircraft wing and marine logistics group.

The 63,131-hectare facility prepares marines for combat and humanitarian missions.

She could not release details of his career with the military or any deployments until today, 24 hours after Lance Cpl. Scott’s father was notified of his son’s death.

Staff Sgt. Furey said Donald Scott reported his gun missing from his Norfolk, Va., home to local police on Feb. 10. His son, Timothy, was immediately a suspect in that robbery.

The officer said there have been reports that Donald Scott was concerned Timothy would harm his mother, Bonnie Scott, in Lunenburg County. But he said police have not determined where those reports came from or if they’re true. Police did receive a report from someone that Lance Cpl. Scott intended to kill his mother.

The Scotts also own a property in East Side Port L’Hebert, Queens County. Mr. Scott could not be reached for comment.

The RCMP is working with Canada Border Services agents, police in Norfolk and the U.S. Marine Corps’ criminal investigations division.

"We are focusing on his activities and tracing his whereabouts from the time the firearm was stolen from his father’s residence in Norfolk to his arrival here in Nova Scotia," Staff Sgt. Furey said. "We are trying to backtrack and determine his movements prior to his death."

He said police do not know if a weapon seized from the farmhouse is the weapon that was stolen from Mr. Scott’s house.

The officer confirmed Lance Cpl. Scott had visited his mother in Nova Scotia before, but he did not know how long he had been here this time.

( bware@herald.ca)

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marine who killed self served 2 tours in Iraq
By Charmaine Noronha - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Feb 14, 2009 16:43:19 EST

TORONTO — A U.S. Marine wanted by the military for abandoning his unit, who fatally shot himself after sneaking across the border into Canada, had served two terms in Iraq, officials said Saturday.

Timothy Scott, 22, turned a gun on himself Thursday at his mother's home near Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

A statement released Saturday by Camp Lejeune said Scott had been deployed to Iraq for eight months in 2007 and for seven months in 2008.

The rifleman, who was assigned to headquarters and the support battalion at Camp Lejeune, had joined the Marine Corps in 2005, said the statement.

Police said Scott, who left his unit sometime around Tuesday, entered into Canada on Wednesday from Woodstock, New Brunswick. He arrived at his mother's home the next day, where he initially threatened her before turning the gun on himself, RCMP Staff Sgt. Mark Furey said.

The Marine Corps. statement said Scott lived in Alexandria, Va. Furey said his parents owned another home a couple hours away in Norfolk, Va.

Furey said the handgun the soldier used on himself was reported stolen from the Norfolk home.

Cpl. Melissa McCoy at Camp Lejeune said Scott had been listed as leaving the unit in what the military deems an "unauthorized absence," meaning he had been away from the base for less than 30 days. After that, he would be considered a deserter.

Scott's death represents a larger trend of rising rates of suicides within the U.S. Army as the strained military wages war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army had its highest rate of suicide on record in 2008 and is investigating a spike in the number in January.

The U.S. Military Academy recently addressed the growing rate of suicides after four cadets took their lives. In the last seven months, two cadets, a faculty member and a staff member at the academy have taken their lives.

Top Veterans Affairs Committee Sens. Daniel Akaka and Richard Burr have asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki to convene a joint oversight committee meeting to address military suicides.

Ellie