Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher is being charged by the Navy with stabbing and murdering a wounded person, shooting at noncombatants, posing for a photo and performing his re-enlistment ceremony next to a dead body.
Gallagher is being charged with various violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice while deployed to Mosul, Iraq, in 2017, related to the various incidents.
Gallagher “did … with premeditation, murder a wounded male person” under his care by “stabbing him in the neck and body with a knife” while battling ISIS in Mosul in May 2017, according to the charge sheet dated Friday.
Cmdr. Tamara Lawrence, public affairs officer with the Naval Special Warfare Command, said the Navy is taking the allegations seriously.
“We train and operate in dynamic, complex and ambiguous environments and our operators are empowered and trusted to independently make difficult decisions during missions,” Lawrence said in a statement. “They have consistently proven that their empowerment and trust is warranted. Allegations that indicate otherwise are, and will continue to be, investigated by the appropriate military and law enforcement authorities.”
He is also charged with shooting at a male and female noncombatant near Mosul in June and July of 2017, respectively.
Gallagher is also charged with obstruction of justice for “attempting to discourage members of his platoon from reporting his actions while in Iraq” when he and his unit were back in San Diego.
The Navy has charged Gallagher with “wrongfully” posing for an unofficial picture “with a human casualty” and wrongfully completing his re-enlistment ceremony next to a human casualty.
He was also charged with flying a drone over a human casualty and wrongfully possessing and using the painkiller Tramadol Hydrochloride, a controlled substance, while in Iraq and back in San Diego.