SAN DIEGO : Sailor Denies Guilt in Slaying of Two
A Navy man accused of executing his two roommates as they slept pleaded not guilty Tuesday to two counts of murder.
Christopher Aaron Welters, 18, is charged with shooting the two men at the apartment they shared on Lantana Drive in City Heights. Killed on March 31 with shots to the head were Thomas Wayne Grant, 24, and Thomas John Gulka, 22, both of whom were also in the Navy.
The murder weapon was Gulka’s 9-millimeter handgun.
Welters was arrested in Las Vegas soon after the killings. He was getting into Gulka’s car at the time he was taken into custody, and the murder weapon was recovered from a safe in his room at a hotel-casino, officials said.
Deputy Dist. Atty. John Rice has charged Welters with committing multiple murders and with lying in wait to commit murder, but he will not seek the death penalty.
Welters, who is being held without bail, faces trial Aug. 17.
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