Marine Reservist Based In Baltimore Charged In Military Shootings
BALTIMORE (WJZ)—A U.S. Marine reservist with ties to Baltimore is fingered as the mystery shooter who fired on military buildings around Washington, D.C. last year.
Kelly McPherson has the charges he's now facing and how the FBI nailed him.
The FBI believes it has found the shooter who--for nearly two months--fired a gun in the middle of the night at military buildings in Virginia and D.C.
They say it's 22-year-old Yonathan Melaku--a Marine reservist—who last week was linked to a bomb scare at the Pentagon.
"This morning in federal court in Alexandria, charges were filed against Yonathan Melaku for firing shots at the Pentagon and the National Museum of the Marine Corps last fall," said Neil Macbride, U.S. Attorney.
Prosecutors say Melaku is responsible for five shootings in four military locations like the U.S. Coast Guard Recruitment Center, the Museum of the Marine Corps, and the Pentagon-- which is the incident that put Melaku into police custody.
He was trespassing at the Arlington National Cemetery right after a bomb scare at the Pentagon. He was carrying a backpack filled with suspicious materials and a notebook with Al-Qaida rules written inside.
He pointed investigators to his hidden car then to his Virginia home where they found bomb-making ingredients.
"I can't suggest to you his motivations or his intent, or why he progressed from one event to the other. It's not that readily apparent yet," said James McJunkin, FBI.
Court documents say the FBI found video tape of Melaku bragging about making military buildings his targets and wanting to shut them down permanently.
Melaku joined the Marine Reserves in 2007. He's based here in northeast Baltimore. He's assigned as a motor vehicle operator and was never deployed overseas.
"It seems like a young person that has some problems and some issues," said Lt. Col. Chris Hughes, U.S. Marine Corps. "Let me stress that today's arrest and criminal complaint is not the end. This is an ongoing and active criminal investigation."
The FBI says agents did retrieve his weapon, and they are running forensic tests on it.
