This story is weird…
More from Stars and Stripes:
Special ops soldier under investigation in fatal shooting of Chechen man in North Carolina
An Army special operations soldier who fatally shot a man outside his North Carolina home earlier this month has not been charged with a crime amid an ongoing investigation, Army and law enforcement officials said Tuesday.
The soldier shot 35-year-old Ramzan Daraev at about 8:15 p.m. on May 3 after reporting a trespasser on the property in Carthage, N.C., according to the Moore County Sheriff’s Department. Deputies responding to the call found Daraev, a native of Chechnya in Russia, dead of multiple gunshot wounds, according to sheriff’s department officials
Sheriff’s deputies were told Daraev was a subcontractor for a local utility company and was working on that job when he was confronted and killed. The sheriff’s department said it was still working Tuesday to confirm Daraev’s employment status.
Daraev’s body was found by deputies about 250 yards from the road near a power line on the soldier’s property. He did not have any identification on his body, nor was he wearing utility company clothing or in possession of utility equipment or tools, according to the sheriff’s office. Family members and “an international identification” found in his vehicle were used to identify Daraev, sheriff’s officials said.
After the shooting, Moore County deputies called in an FBI special agent who supplied a translator to speak to others who claimed to be Daraev’s coworkers. An FBI spokesperson said the bureau was not currently involved in the investigation.
Honestly, thos whole things sounds like it could be the opening episode of a new season of Jack Ryan.
It’s not ridiculous to think this may have been an enemy operative scouting as a prelude to an aggressive act against the United States.
We’ve shown consistent weakness on both immigration security and confronting foreign countries, so why wouldn’t they be more active in fucking with us on our home soil.
Whatever this is, it feels bad.
It also reads like an episode of Cops. Dead body hasno id., tools, or company marked clothes. How long from when shot to the first call to the Sheriff? What’s their response time? Did the press or police ask the utility why they couldn’t find an American citizen qualified for whatever job the man was doing?
It’s apparently a “Russian owned” company, owned by a guy who was in a menial job just six months ago.
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This story leaves out that the call to police reported the guy was taking pictures of the soldier’s family.
And the fact the property owner had put up cameras BECAUSE of previous activity and had observed this guy scouting out the property several times before..
PJ Media has been covering the story pretty well. The whole thing smells funny, like “dead cow by the road in August” funny. That part of NC also had the mysterious power outage last winter that has never been explained. (Which to me says, “Something was done to the local grid and we’re not talking for security reasons.”)
It’s disturbing that the FBI isn’t investigating, apparently. Then again, since the FBI is mostly a political police agency, I suppose that makes sense.
At this point, I’m more likely to trust DoD investigators — NCIS or whoever — than the politically-weaponized FBI.
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It’s also a jurisdictional question: since the case involves a SOCOM Colonel, the DoD (NCIS, CID, etc.) will want to handle this themselves.
Everywhere I’ve lived, utility workers — including contracted workers — wear clear uniforms, conspicuous ID badges, and drive marked company vehicles on service runs. It’s a company policy the utilities take VERY seriously, and they specifically explain this to customers for the exact purpose of identifying legitimate employees and contractors vs. imposters.
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This Chechen guy, he might have been employed as a utility contractor, but if he wasn’t in uniform, didn’t have an ID badge, didn’t have tools or equipment, and was driving an unmarked vehicle, then he probably wasn’t there on utility business. (I can think of legitimate reasons for using a camera with a telephoto lens, but only if it’s pointed at whatever utility infrastructure he’s supposed to be checking or working on. There’s no legitimate reason for him to be pointing the camera at someone’s house, let alone that of a SOCOM Colonel.) If he was there legitimately, he’d be fired for violating that policy as soon as he got back to the office.
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But on that note, the reporting makes me wonder if the “office” — Utilities One — is legitimate in itself. How is it possible that a company that supposedly provides consulting and technological solutions for telecommunications, utilities, infrastructure, etc., has nobody answering the phone or email? What projects have they been involved on? Who are some of their customers? A legitimate consulting firm will tell you; it’s good publicity. The fact this one doesn’t is one more unexplained oddity. (And that’s separate from the founder and at least a couple corporate officers all being recent immigrants with Russian ties and no related work history.)
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The story is extremely weird. There’s definitely a deeper story that’s not being reported.
Kurt Schlichter! Please, call your office!