As Home Post reported yesterday, Clayton is a recent graduate from the Navy SEAL program, and lives in Pacific Beach. He accidentally shot himself early Thursday morning while demonstrating to a female companion that his gun was safely unloaded. Police report Clayton put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger to prove his point.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Police originally reported the Navy SEAL had died. The Navy says he is on life support.
Marion Doss / Flickr
Navy Special Warfare Trident insignia
More troubling news this morning for the local military community. A Pacific Beach man who recently graduated from the Navy SEAL program is on life support after shooting himself in the head. San Diego Police Department officials say the shooting was an accident, according to 10News.
10News reports:
Police received a call from a person inside a residence in the 1800 block of Grand Avenue in Pacific Beach at around 2:00 a.m. The person said a man was playing with a gun and accidentally shot himself in the head.
Police initially said he died about 3 a.m. at Scripps Memorial Hospital, La Jolla. They later got word from the Navy that the sailor had not died, but was on life support, police Lt. Andra Brown said.
City News Service reports the alleged circumstances of the shooting:
[A] woman told investigators that the man was trying to get her to hold
the gun and when she refused, he offered to show her how safe the gun was by
putting it to his head and pulling the trigger. (SDPD Officer Frank) Cali said the man believed the weapon was not loaded.
Military police are now involved in the investigation. Authorities tell 10News alcohol was a factor.
The San Diego-based USS Mobile Bay cruised through the international powder-keg of the Strait of Hormuz last week, according to the Associated Press. The Mobile Bay is a guided missile cruiser that provides support for the John C. Stennis strike group. The Stennis also traveled through the Strait of Hormuz the final week of December.
After the Stennis and Mobile Bay left the Strait, an Iranian military leader warned the U.S. Navy not to return to the Persian Gulf, where the Strait is located. According to CBS News, Iran army chief Ataollah Salehi told IRNA, Iran’s state news agency:
“Iran will not repeat its warning … the enemy’s carrier has been moved to the Sea of Oman because of our drill. I recommend and emphasize to the American carrier not to return to the Persian Gulf.”
In response, Pentagon press secretary George Little said in a statement:
“The deployment of U.S. military assets in the Persian Gulf region will continue as it has for decades. These are regularly scheduled movements in accordance with our longstanding commitments to the security and stability of the region and in support of ongoing operations.”
The whole brouhaha began when Iran decided to conduct a 10-day naval exercise near the Strait of Hormuz in December. According to CBS News, the point of the military exercise was to prove to the world that Iran could close off the Strait if it chose to. That’s a big deal, as one-sixth of the world’s oil exports must pass through the Straight each and every day.
Investigators in Coronado are still trying to figure out the motive behind the shooting death of four people in the wee morning hours of New Year’s Day. The Associated Press has identified two of the victims as 25-year-old Navy pilot Lt. David Reis, and his sister, 24-year-old Karen Reis.
The U-T San Diego reports a third man killed in the condo, Bob Reeves, was also a Navy pilot training at MCAS Miramar. The name of the fourth person found dead, a 31-year-old Chula Vista man, still hasn’t been released.
According to the AP, Lt. Reis was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and had recently taken his first flight on a F/A-18 fighter jet. His sister, Karen, was a 2009 graduate of U.C. San Diego. Rebecca Bailey, who was a teammate of Karen Reis’s on the U.C.S.D. volleyball team, said of the shooting:
Facebook
Karen Reis
“It’s still a shocker. This kind of thing doesn’t happen to people like her and David. Their family is the family everybody wants to be a part of. They’re just so loving, and there’s so much love in their family.”
The media has hinted the slayings were a murder-suicide, as police have said they are not searching for a suspect in the crime.
A sailor looks out from a deck of the USS Carl Vinson
I remember waking up the morning after President Obama announced Navy SEAL Team 6 had killed Osama bin Laden. Like many of you, I was surprised to learn that bin Laden’s body had been almost immediately buried at sea.
Once at work, I began to scan the internet for any information on the disposal of bin Laden’s body. And then there it was, in the headline of an article on a British news organization’s website. The San Diego-based USS Carl Vinson was the ship responsible for burying bin Laden at sea.
According to the UK Telegraph:
“The deceased’s body was washed and then placed in a white sheet. The body was placed in a weighted bag. A military officer read prepared religious remarks which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker. After the words were complete, the body was place on a prepared flat board, tipped up, whereupon the deceased’s body eased into the sea.”
I know a lot of family members of the Vinson crew were worried there would be retaliation against the Vinson for its participation in such a momentous event. I also heard from a lot of parents who were so proud of their sons and daughters for being a part of a key moment in U.S. history.
What’s wild is just a few months later, the Vinson would be the scene of another historic event, but this time in the world of sports. The Vinson hosted the Carrier Classic on Veterans Day, the first-ever college basketball game to be played on a live flattop.
Here’s some great time-lapse video showing how the flight deck of the Vinson was turned into a basketball arena:
Machinist's Mate 1st Class Ryan Lu interviewed by Hong Kong media
The San Diego-based USS Carl Vinson arrived in Hong Kong on December 27th for a three-day port visit. The arrival of the enormous nuclear-powered aircraft carrier made big news in the territory, with dozens of Hong Kong journalists scrambling to talk to the handful of Cantonese-speaking crew members.
The Vinson’s Facebook posted a video clip of a Hong Kong television station’s coverage of the carrier’s arrival. I find it fascinating how the Hong Kong reporter attempts to tie the Vinson’s deployment to the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on December 17th. The Vinson left San Diego on November 30th, so the Navy must be clairvoyant.
A San Diego man who lost his wife, mother-in-law, and two daughters when a military jet crashed into his home has been awarded $17.8 million in a lawsuit.
Despite the fact Don Yoon and his father-in-law had sued the federal government for $56 million in emotional and monetary damages, Yoon attorney Brian Panish told the Associated Press he thought the decision of U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller was fair. Panish said:
“The family is happy that this part of the process is over, but they’ve lost so much that they will never get back.”
36-year-old Youngmi Lee Yoon, 15-month-old Grace Yoon, 2-month-old Rachel Yoon, and Youngmi’s 59-year-old mother Seokim Kim Lee were killed on December 8, 2008 when a Marine Corps F-18 fighter jet crashed into their home in University City. Pilot 1st Lt. Dan Neubauer survived by ejected from his plane before it dove into the Yoon home.
In the wake of numerous Navy drug busts involving Spice, the Pentagon wants a better urine test to detect the synthetic drug in servicemembers.
The Navy Times reports the Department of Defense and the National Institute on Drug Abuse are working together to develop a more advanced Spice-detecting test. The test would then be used by all branches of the United States military.
Pentagon spokeswomen Cynthia Smith tells the Navy Times:
“The joint DoD-NIDA study is to offer potential solutions for the possible addition of synthetic marijuana-like compounds found in ‘spice’ to the DoD panel of tested drugs.”
Home Post reported last month that 28 Sailors from the USS Ronald Reagan were under investigation for alleged Spice use. In October, 49 Sailors from the USS Carl Vinson were kicked out of the Navy because they were either using or distributing Spice. A total of 64 Sailors were booted from the service due to the USS Carl Vinson drug bust.
A three-hour SWAT standoff Wednesday in the Serra Mesa neighborhood of San Diego ended with the discovery of two dead bodies in the Lincoln Military Housing Complex. San Diego Police believe the couple died in a murder-suicide.
KFMB-TV reports both victims were in the Navy. They had two children, a five-year-old who was at school during the slayings, and an 18-month-old who was in the house at the time of the killings. Both youngsters were unharmed.
Although the SDPD hasn’t released the name of the victims, 10News reports the deceased woman is 26-year-old Portia Vaughn-Southern. Vaughn-Southern’s father, Michael Frazier, told the TV station he is baffled by police reports that his daughter was the victim of murder at the hands of her children’s father:
“My emotions are up and down. I don’t even understand how I lost my child… They were good with each other… It was perfect. They were doing great… She was doing wonderful… I don’t know what led to this. I really don’t.”
Sunday night was a special time at Qualcomm Stadium, and not just because the Chargers actually won. Before the Bolts’ routing of the Baltimore Ravens began, the team celebrated the military heritage of its home town by asking San Diego-based Sailors and Marines to present the colors before the game.
The Navy posted this video of the celebration. Take a look:
