U.S. Officer Shot, Killed by Panamanian Troops

A U.S. Army officer was fatally shot Saturday night as he and three other American servicemen tried to flee a crowd of Panamanian troopers and civilians, a U.S. Southern Command spokesman reported.

In a statement, the Southern Command said the incident occurred when the four U.S. military personnel got lost and drove their car outside the Panama Defense Forces headquarters. There, they encountered soldiers and civilians.

“The PDF began hassling the U.S officers and attempted to pull them out of their car,” the statement said. “Feeling threatened, the U.S. officers fled and the PDF opened fire.”

The statement said the U.S. military personnel were dressed in civilian clothes at the time and were off duty.

Col. Ronald Sconyers, a spokesman for the Southern Command, said the four Americans were stopped by about 40 civilians and five Defense Forces troopers as they were driving by the headquarters of strongman Gen. Manuel A. Noriega at 9:05 p.m. local time.

The wounded American was taken to the U.S. military’s Gorgas Hospital, where he died, Sconyers said. He did not identify the victim pending notification of relatives.

The other three Americans were not injured, he said.

Civilians living in the district around the Defense Forces building had reported sporadic shooting.

They said troopers of the Machos del Monte Battalion, which backed Noriega in an attempted coup on Oct. 3, were in position outside the Defense Forces headquarters.

The television channel of the U.S. Southern Command announced that a “Delta” alert was in effect, restricting U.S. military personnel to their bases. That alert was also ordered during the October revolt, which was carried out by a small group of Defense Forces personnel.

A government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Noriega, who was declared Panama’s chief of government Friday, was not in the headquarters at the time of the incident.

When asked about the shooting, a spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Panama City said, “We have no comment about anything.”

After the shooting, a number of Panamanian soldiers with AK-47 assault rifles and rocket launchers stood guard outside of the headquarters, and the situation appeared tense.

A helicopter thundered overhead as the soldiers blocked roads and diverted traffic from the shooting site.

In appointing Noriega chief executive, the rubber-stamp legislature said the action was necessary because Panama was in a “state of war” with the United States. It based the state-of-war declaration on severe economic sanctions imposed on Panama in an effort to force Noriega to step down.

The general is under indictment on drug-trafficking charges in the United States.