Marine, 22, Dies on Training Run

A 22-year-old Marine died while he was on a training run with his unit, military officials said Wednesday.

Cpl. James Carter Jr., a field radio operator, was running Monday morning when he suddenly fell and died about 7 a.m.

Military officials said they did not have an official cause of death, but they suspected he might have died after suffering sudden cardiac arrest, said Staff Sgt. Kelley Ramsey, a base spokeswoman. An autopsy performed on Carter on Tuesday was inconclusive pending further tests, according to the San Diego County medical examiner’s office.

Carter was on a regular training run, Ramsey said. “Marines, sometimes daily, do physical training.” Monday’s run was “nothing out of the ordinary,” she said. She said such deaths are rare, but no statistics were available on Wednesday.

Carter was married and from Charlotte, N.C. He joined the Marines in November, 1989, and had been stationed at Camp Pendleton since 1990. He served in the Gulf War and then in the military’s humanitarian effort in Somalia, Operation Restore Hope, base officials said.