Possible Murder-Suicide Leaves 3 Dead at Base

An apparent grudge between two airmen led to what is believed to be the first multiple slaying ever at Edwards Air Force Base on Saturday, leaving three men dead, including a respected military policeman.

A lone gunman killed the officer and a fellow senior airman before allegedly shooting himself once in the head with a 9-millimeter Glock pistol in his military dormitory, Air Force officials said. Dead are Tech. Sgt. Robert B. Butler, 34, the policeman; Senior Airman Darrick Moore, 27, whose killing apparently started the rampage; and senior airman Devaughn L. Brown, believed to be the shooter.

“This kind of incident is a shock not only for me but the rest of the base,” Col. Ed De Iulio, the military policeman’s commanding officer, said at a news conference. “It’s tough on me.”

The wife of one of the dead men said the incident began after an old grudge erupted at a base sports bar in the early morning hours Saturday.

Senior Airman Adriana Moore, 25, said her husband, 27, met Brown, whom she described as a longtime acquaintance, late Friday night at the Stripes bar, where she was also present.

She said the men had argued two weeks earlier after her husband dissuaded a woman from going on a date with Brown.

On Friday, the two men went outside to discuss their differences and Moore later left to arm himself, his wife said.

“That is when I got suspicious,” she said.

In the confusion in the bar, she lost track of her husband.

What happened next is unclear. About 2 a.m., Butler stopped a man--apparently Brown--driving Moore’s blue GMC pickup near headquarters in the center of the 300,000-acre base, authorities said.

Butler, apparently suspecting that the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, radioed for backup support, authorities said at a news conference. When military police responded moments later, they found Butler dead near his patrol car from a single gunshot wound.

Butler’s father, Joseph, said by phone from Philadelphia that military officials told him his son was shot in the face. The elder Butler, himself a 35-year veteran of the Philadelphia police force, said his son served as a military police officer for eight years.

Robert Butler leaves behind a widow and three children, ages 3, 5 and 7. His wife, Takako, said she had not yet told them their father isn’t coming home. “He was a very kind person, a good father, and a good husband,” the woman said.

Military police responding to Butler’s call for help saw a blue pickup heading away from the scene of the shooting and pursued it. A man jumped out and ran for the base dormitory.

Officers lost track of the man and immediately shut down the dormitory, evacuating about 100 airmen.

Brown was found dead in the dorm’s recreation room about 6:45 a.m.

Adriana Moore said Brown previously had worked in the 412th Logistics Support Squadron with her husband.

About two hours after Brown’s body was found, authorities discovered Darrick Moore’s body at the base landfill, about four miles northeast of the dormitories. Military officials were unsure whether he was killed at the landfill or somewhere else. They said the 9-millimeter Glock pistol that Brown used to kill himself was not military-issued.

Military officials said they were continuing to investigate the incident.

Special correspondent Radha Krishnan Thampi contributed to this report.