Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/542960
ByMattSedensky and Russ Bynum The Associated Press They were four people charged with the safety of others, gunned down in a place where the nation's defense is the paramount mission for those who pass through its doors. They are being deemed heroes by some, and the cruel irony of protectors becoming tar- gets was not lost, with Pres- ident Barack Obama calling it "a heartbreaking circum- stance" to lose four men who served "with great valor." Here is a look at the Ma- rines killed in the attack on two military facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee: SkipWells Lance Cpl. Squire Wells, who was known as Skip, was swapping text messages Thursday with his girlfriend of 2 ½ years, excited that she had booked a flight to visit him in Chattanooga after months apart. "Can't wait anymore," Wells texted. "Yes you can honey," his girlfriend, Caro- line Dove, replied. His next two words would be the last she'd ever hear from him. "ACTIVE SHOOTER," he wrote. She thought he was kid- ding: "You are so weird," she replied. Hours of silence. "I love you," she tried. Hours more passed, the news out of Chat- tanooga becoming clearer. "Hon, I need you to answer me please," she wrote. It would not be until Fri- day that she learned his fate. The two met at Geor- gia Southern University, but he soon followed in his family footsteps and enlisted. His grandfather had been in the Air Force, and his grandmother and mother served in the Navy, Dove said. Dove, too, plans to enlist in the Marines, a process she began in No- vember. She said she is not dissuaded by what hap- pened. Through tears, Dove re- membered her boyfriend's love of flag football and Nerf guns, his passion for U.S. history, his ability to handle her when she was grouchy and how good he was at lis- tening. He dreamed of being a drill sergeant, and when they last saw each other around Valentine's Day, he gave her a gold-and-silver ring. When the time came to propose, she said, he knew to ask her parents first. Wells' mother was watch- ing television coverage of the shooting when Marines appeared at her door. She knew what the visit meant. "Every service parent, es- pecially moms, dreads open- ing the front door and see- ing people in uniform," said Andy Kingery, a friend who is acting as a family spokes- man. Thomas Sullivan Ripples of grief were ap- parent as a stream of visitors brought flowers, food and gifts Friday to the Hamp- den, Massachusetts, home of Jerry and Betty Sullivan, the parents of Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan. A police officer was stationed out- side to keep reporters and onlookers away. Masslive. com said Sullivan, 40, grew up in Springfield, Massachu- setts. The Pentagon said he had been enlisted nearly 18 years, serving two tours of duty in Iraq and earning two Purple Hearts. His hometown mayor, Dominic Sarno, called Sul- livan a man who "dedi- cated his life in brave ser- vice." Gov. Charlie Baker ordered flags to half-staff as he proclaimed "Terror comes home to Massachu- setts." Sullivan's unit — In- dia Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marines — called him "one of our own" on its Face- book page. A giant U.S. flag and another representing the Marine Corps hung out- side a Springfield restaurant owned by Sullivan's brother Joseph. "He was our hero," read a post on the Facebook page of Nathan Bill's Bar and Res- taurant, "and he will never be forgotten." Outside the home of Sul- livan's parents, Hampden Police Chief Jeff Fansworth told reporters the family was in shock and disbelief. "How hard would it be for anybody to lose a child?" he asked. "It doesn't get much harder than that." Carson Holmquist So proud a Marine was Sgt. Carson Holmquist that when he finished boot camp, he returned to his home- town of Grantsburg, Wis- consin, and paid a visit to his high school dressed in his formal blues. Grantsburg High School Principal Josh Watt, who was one of Hol- mquist's football coaches, remembers the day his for- mer cornerback showed up, the pride in his accomplish- ment apparent. "When he became a Ma- rine he was very proud of that," Watt said Friday. The principal remem- bered Holmquist as a strong player, an avid sportsman who loved to hunt and fish, a young man committed to suc- ceeding. He graduated in 2008; the Pentagon said he enlisted in Janu- ary 2009 and was serving as an automotive mainte- nance technician. He had completed two deploy- ments as part of Opera- tion Enduring Freedom. Reached by phone, the slain Marine's father said he wasn't ready to talk yet, and his grandmother de- clined to comment as well. Sadness over the loss was permeating his small home- town. "It's a very tough day in Grantsburg," Watt said. David Wyatt Tony Ward remembered Staff Sgt. David Wyatt as the young Boy Scout who would run up mountains, just for fun, seeking to best the time of others. Ward, who now lives in Helena, Montana, was Wyatt's scoutmas- ter when he was in high school in Russellville, Ar- kansas. Wyatt and Ward's son were good friends and worked together at a Boy Scout camp. He said Wyatt attained the Ea- gle Scout rank and grad- uated from high school in 1998. He was married with young children, Ward said. Wyatt enlisted in 2004, the Pentagon said, and had been living in Burke County, North Carolina. He was de- ployed three times, includ- ing twice in Iraq. Ward called the fallen Marine a man who enjoyed life, a "hard charger," some- one who cared about his job and those who served with him. "He's the kind of man that this country needs more of," he said. Wyatt's mother, Deborah Wyatt Boen, told The Cou- rier newspaper in Russell- ville that her son intended to make a career of his mil- itary service. "He called the Marines his brothers," Boen said. "He was so proud of being a Marine." CHATTANOOGA La st w or ds f ro m th e sl ai n JOHNBAZEMORE—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Judy Hacker places flowers at a makeshi memorial outside a military recruiting center Friday where a gunman opened fire on Thursday in Chattanooga, Tenn. Counterterrorism investigators are trying to figure out why a 24-year-old Kuwait-born man, who by accounts lived a typical life in suburban America, attacked the career center and a Navy- Marine training center a few miles away in a shooting rampage that killed four Marines. By Alicia A. Caldwell The Associated Press WASHINGTON Just weeks before Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman sneaked out of a maximum security prison in Mexico, the U.S. government had requested formally that the drug kingpin be sent to the United States to stand trial on a variety of drug trafficking and conspiracy charges, the Justice Depart- ment said on Friday. The office of Mexico At- torney General Arely Go- mez issued a statement late Thursday saying she told a congressional committee in that country that the extra- dition request was sent June 25. Guzman vanished from the prison through a tunnel in the shower floor of his cell on July 11. Gomez's office said she is- sued instructions to review the request and submit it to courts for consideration. A variety of U.S. offi- cials, including lawmakers and law enforcement offi- cials, had called for Guz- man's transfer to the U.S. since his arrest in February 2014. Mexican officials, how- ever, said Guzman wouldn't be sent to the U.S. until he had served time for all of his crimes in Mexico. "That is one of the rea- sons we pushed for extra- dition," said Jack Riley, the Drug Enforcement Adminis- tration's top agent. "We were afraid of this. Not that (Mex- ican authorities) weren't ca- pable of keeping him — but he'd escaped before." Riley, the deputy admin- istrator, hasn't really slept since Guzman's escape. The last week has been a flurry of work speaking with his Mexican counterparts and helping direct U.S. ef- forts to capture one of the world's most prolific and vi- olent drug lords for the third time since the 1990s. "This guy caused me one of the best days and worst days of my life in a span of a year," Riley said. "We are doing everything we can to track him down, much like we did a year or so ago when we hooked him." Before taking over as DEA's operations chief in Washington last year, Riley spent four years in Chicago tracking Guzman and con- tinuing to build a growing criminal case against the drug lord. After Guzman's 2014 arrest, authorities in Chicago, including Riley, called for his extradition to the United States to face trial on a litany of drug traf- ficking and other charges. Guzman vanished nearly a week ago through a so- phisticated tunnel that opened in the floor of his cell's shower. Two Mexi- can lawmakers said Thurs- day that at least 18 minutes passed before anyone was alerted. A surveillance video of Guzman's cell shows him walking to the shower — where there was a blind spot in the security camera's view — crouching down and then vanishing. According to internal DEA documents obtained by The Associated Press, U.S. drug agents learned Guzman and his associates were plotting his escape al- most immediately after his arrest. The agency did not have information about the weekend escape plan, the documents show. The warnings were passed on to Mexican au- thorities, according to a U.S. government official briefed on the case. The official was not authorized to discuss de- tails of the case publicly and spoke only on the condition of anonymity. Mexican authorities have denied they received any warning about possible es- cape plots. As the work begins anew to find Guzman, Riley said he has every confidence that U.S. and Mexican offi- cials will be able to capture him again. "I really do think we've got him on the run, he's looking over his shoulder," Riley said. "We are going to make it as hard on him as possible." Mexican authorities have established checkpoints on major highways around the country, distributed 100,000 photos of Guzman to toll boothsandput10,000agents from various components of theMexicanfederalpoliceon high alert since the escape. DEA and FBI officials have met with officials in Mexico City and Riley said he has been in near daily contact with his direct counterparts since Guzman's latest dash from custody. Guzman's 2014 downfall was more than a decade in the making. First arrested in Guatemala in 1993, he spent nearly a decade in another maximum-security Mexi- can prison before escaping, reportedly hidden in a laun- dry basket. In the 21 years he was on the run, he continued to grow his drug-smuggling empire. But by 2008 DEA agents had found the first crack in the security net- work he had spent years building and perfecting. 'EL CHAPO' US asked Mexico to extradite drug lord before escape MARCO UGARTE — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A Federal Police shows a reward notice for information leading to the capture of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who made his escape from the Altiplano maximum security prison via an underground tunnel, in Almoloya, west of Mexico City, Thursday. PLEASE RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER. Thank you! Please help sponsor a classroom subscription Call Kathy at (530) 737-5047 to find out how. ThroughtheNewspapersinEducation program, area classrooms receive the Red Bluff Daily News every day thanks to the generosity of these local businesses & individuals. •DR.ASATO&DR.MARTIN • FIDELITY NATIONAL TITLE CO. • DOLLING INSURANCE • GUMM'S OPTICAL SHOPPE • OLIVE CITY QUICK LUBE • QRC • WALMART • TEHAMA CO. 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