A pair of Navy SEALs, assigned to the vaunted special operations group SEAL Team Six, as well as two members of the Marine Corps Special Operations Command, have been charged with the murder of a fellow Army Green Beret, Navy officials announced Thursday.
The SEALs and Marine Raiders, as well as the victim Army Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar, a member of the 3rd Special Forces Group, were assigned to a U.S. special operations adviser team deployed to Bamako, Mali, in 2017.
The accused sailors and Marines have been brought up on felony murder charges, as well as charges of involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, hazing and burglary under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according a statement by Navy Region Mid-Atlantic.
The court martial for the accused SEALs and Marine special operators has been scheduled for Dec. 10, according to the statement.
Navy officials did not disclose the identities of the the sailors and Marines charges.
However, an 2017 Army Criminal Investigative Division report on the incident identified Petty Officer Antony DeDolph and Chief Petty Officer Adam Cranston Matthews as the SEALs responsible for Melgar’s death.
Both men are on active duty assigned to Naval Special Warfare Development Group, colloquially known as SEAL Team Six, according to reports by U.S. Naval Institute News. The CID report did not identify the two Marines also charged in Melgar’s murder. The SEALs remain on duty in Virginia, while both Marines are currently stationed in North Carolina.
A witness told Army investigators that Petty Officer DeDolph admitted he had “choked [Staff Sgt.] Logan out” after bounding the Green Beret with duct tape, USNI News reported. Initially, both SEALs claimed Meglar’s death was an accident, while the three special operators practiced combatives — or hand-to-hand combat techniques.
Thursday’s charges come amid an ongoing prosecution of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, accused of stabbing an Islamic State fighter to death during combat operations in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in 2016. Chief Petty Officer Gallagher allegedly killed the wounded man after members of his SEAL team had already treated his injuries.
Roughly 20 SEALs and Navy officers have been implicated in Chief Petty Officer Gallagher’s case. He stands accused of premeditated murder and aggravated assaults, for reportedly shooting noncombatants during his time in Iraq, and is currently being held at the Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar in San Diego.
• Carlo Muñoz can be reached at cmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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