FBI Links Reservist Arrested Outside Pentagon To Shooting Incidents; Including Video

A string of mysterious shooting incidents, including where shots were fired at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, the Pentagon, and several other military-related locations around Virginia have been tied back to a reservist who was arrested outside the Pentagon (HT: Killgore Trout).

FBI officials who arrested 22-year-old Marine reservist Yonathan Melaku outside of the Pentagon during a security scare last week say he recorded himself shooting at the National Museum of the Marine Corps and have linked him to a string of five shootings in October and November.

Federal prosecutors charged Melaku on Thursday with destruction of property and firearms violations in the Eastern District of Virginia. He's accused of shooting at the Marine Corps museum two times as well as the Pentagon, a Marine Corps recruiting sub-station in Chantilly and a Coast Guard recruiting office in Woodbridge between Oct. 17 and Nov. 2.

Authorities said in an affidavit that they found bomb-making and explosives documents on Melaku's computer, according to a preliminary FBI review. They also found a digital video tape of one of the shootings in his desk.

"I've already... that's the military building... last time I hit them, they turned off the lights for like four or five days," Melaku allegedly said in the video, according to an FBI affidavit. "So now here we go again; this time I'm going to turn it off permanently."

He allegedly shouted "Allahu Ackbar" before firing the rounds, and from the sound of things, it appears that he's another lone wolf jihadi who has caused at least $100,000 in damage due to his alleged firing on a total of five military buildings, including the Pentagon, a Marine Corps recruiting station in Chantilly, VA, a US Coast Guard recruiting station in Woodbridge, VA, and the museum twice. He was taken into custody while fleeing into Arlington National Cemetery.



Melaku, a naturalized US citizen from Ethiopia, was out on bail on unrelated grand larceny charges at the time of his arrest. The same gun was used in all the incidents. The Marine Corps is in the process of removing him from the service on those larceny charges.