The Navy is charging Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher 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, according to the charge sheet obtained by CNN.
According to the network, the charge sheet states that Gallagher murdered a “wounded male person” under his care by “stabbing him in the neck and body with a knife.” The charge sheet, dated Friday, alleges that Gallagher did so “with premeditation” while fighting ISIS in Mosul in May of last year.
{mosads}Gallagher is also charged with obstructing justice by trying to “discourage members of his platoon from reporting his actions while in Iraq,” “wrongfully” posing for an unofficial picture “with a human casualty,” and improperly completing his re-enlistment ceremony next to a human casualty.
The charge sheet, according to CNN, also states that the Navy SEAL is charged with flying a drone over a casualty and wrongful possession of the painkiller Tramadol Hydrochloride, which is a controlled substance.
“We train and operate in dynamic, complex and ambiguous environments and our operators are empowered and trusted to independently make difficult decisions during missions,” Cmdr. Tamara Lawrence, public affairs officer with the Naval Special Warfare Command, said in a statement to CNN.
“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,” Lawrence added.